Lower level appeal hearing with company not showing up..

by Jon

(Maryland)

Hi,

I live in Md and work for bby, i used to drive a company vehicle(GeekSquad). Best buy policy supercedes state and local law’s.

If you receive more than 2 moving violations etc in a 3yr period, you are disqualified, and are given 30days to find a position in store, or it will lead to termination. This was camera tickets that they claim were mine.

They identified “here say” that the Car i was driving received 3 camera tickets in a 1 year period.

They told me to hand in keys and go home. I never could find a job in store. One was never offered after i talked to many managers.

I filed application’s, left resumes etc… it took bby 83 days until they officially termed me.

I waited till the 45th day to file for benefits…

That got the ball rolling; best buy picked up there feet and started to really press the termination that has more steps to take than the monument stairs.

They denied my unemployment based on following..

The claimant was discharged from best buy stores lp on 12-28-12 for having 3 moving violations within a year.

The claimants conduct was either a deliberate and willful disregard of the standards of behavior which the employer has a right to expect, or a series of repeated violations of employment rules proving a wanton disregard of his/her obligations to the employer under section 8-1002 of the MD unemployment insurance law. This constitutes gross misconduct in connection with the work.

I read the fact sheet and it said some things I did not say. I only told the interviewer that best buy said I had more than 2 moving violations in a 3 yr period and that’s why they let me go.

She asked if I received a warning. I said no official paperwork was given to me, no burden of proof. And then she said, I will call them then and call you back if I need to.

I was so shocked that the fact finding sheet said “they are saying that I was the driver occupying the vehicle during the 3rd violation 12/12/12.

It was the red light camera violation. Yes, i have been warned that my vehicle had 2 photo ticket violations and that I needed to slow down.

I thought to myself.. 1) I never would have, nor did I ever say that, and 2) maybe this was what generated it based upon what best buy rep said and was misconstrued.

I thought hard about calling this out thinking that the lawyer for unemployment might get offended if i said, that person was a liar, so I tried to just do my best..

I said I did not say this, that I do not agree, that I would not have been able to come up with this data .. the date 12/12/12. I would have never guessed it because I would have never knew a date.

I also told him that best buy policy say’s they check your mvr to find out about any citations, but are basing my dismissal off of a camera ticket that has no effect on mvr checks. The office receives these citations and make the drivers pay for them, it happens to a lot of drivers across the board, but this time they pinned it on me taking this out of there own protocol. I said!! best buy is in a downward spiral.. I really didn’t say this to not be a mudslinger!! I showed the lawyer my mvr printout, not one point/ticket exists, and also said i was never given burden of proof, pictures of me committing violations and lastly, nothing was deliberate, nor do I believe that if and when this occurs does anyone deliberately try and violate a camera ticket box/catcher..

My employer never showed up, in my opinion based upon what the 1st interviewer put was damaging, I don’t blame my employer for not showing, cuz they probably didn’t need to and most likely has not burden on what is judged considering the statements were so damaging, What should i expect from this, I am a full time dad, full custody of only child, not working, no income. help

Hi Jon,

First, I’d like to thank you for creating your own page .. It’s what gives me the room to answer questions much to long for the commenting form .. which I always hope will be relevant to the original question and answer instead of “a new and different question” that only serves to take things off track.

But, where to start .. where to start is all I’m thinking about right now .. because you worked for Best Buy and that takes me back to how I used to have to conduct manhunts for a BB witness and coerce them into attending hearings, not to mention trying to scrounge up the documents .. which often had “refused to sign” in the space allotted for the employees signature.

But, because it is to late for me to help you with regard to the hearing and it would all be hindsight, let’s start with this.

How the heck did the misconduct finding, get to be a “gross” misconduct claims determination without the employer providing documentation to the DLLR to support and sustain their burden of proof at the hearing.

The interviews “notes” are often slanted to justify a denial of benefits, but once a hearing is in progress, you’re correct, without the employer’s direct witness in attendance (the LP agent that discharged you in the meeting, I would presume) is only hearsay .. and a statement to boot. Written documentation without direct testimony to “activate” it should automatically be given less weight that any direct testimony.

So, I’m saying if you do lose this hearing where BB was not in attendance to sustain their burden .. you had to of self disqualified yourself by focusing on all the wrong stuff instead of the stuff that should compel the hearing officer to find in your favor .. regardless of personal feeling you may have been wanton and negligent in regards to the best interest of the employer while performing anything having to do with “the work”.

Who introduced the interviewers fact finding notes into evidence .. and if it was the hearing officer .. are you saying it was ruled as hearsay?

Jon, I’m happy to discuss this with you, but for me to know if I could put your mind at ease with a yes, I think you should win .. I’d have to be the one to ask you questions .. I’m not willing to write out here.

Email me, identify yourself with a link to this page and give me your phone number .. I’ll call you and see if I can help to explain what might be good .. or bad about what you did all by yourself at YOUR appeal hearing.

Chris