Quote:
Originally Posted by Flexy633
Wow. The more I read on this message board, the more shocked I am.
Someone on the unemployment section of this board telling someone not to take the call from unemployment for their phone hearing.
Are you people serious???
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Actually, that is the best advice one can give regarding unemployment. This advice has been confirmed on the Unemployment sub-forum by former UI employees, by an ALJ who handled unemployment cases for years, and two labor attorneys who handled claimants judicial appeals in State Courts.
Let's examine why.
First unless you were legitimately laid off or you quit; when fired
It Is Not You Job To Explain Why You Are Unemployed, that is the job of your former employer.
In all states, unemployment benefits are required by federal law to be paid UNLESS a person is found to be disqualified. That means you get benefits unless the state has a reason to deny you based on the reason for being unemployed.
Now, lets look at it from the "take the call" and the "Don;t take the call" perspectives.
If you take the call, anything you say can be used to deny you benefits. If they asked why you are unemployed and you give any reason that is misconduct, you will be denied. The fact that you disagree with why or that the impact wasn't really bad or it's not a violation of company policy, you already said the reason and afterwards is trying to lessen the impact. It's called "Admit and Justify" something you will see in many unemployment cases. If you admit or tell them any reason that is misconduct, you will most likely be denied. Now imagine being denied and finding out your employer didn't even respond to unemployment or didn't give a disqualifying reason; the reason for the denial came out of your mouth.
Lets examine the same situation when you don't take the call. If your employer says you did something wrong they most likely will deny you benefits. That denial will occur regardless if you do or don't speak with unemployment. But if your employer does not respond or give a non disqualifying reason, you not taking the call prevent you from mucking it up. When you don;t take the call and your employer has not responded, you get benefits automatically because there was no reason to deny.
We have had many people who were denied only to find out their employer never responded to unemployment. Those denials was based on what came out of the claimants own mouth. Additionally, if denied, you have to appeal and part of the process is sending the interviewer's notes and determination to each side. Your employer now knows what you admitted and can use that to tailor their misconduct claim against you.
If you look at a state like CA where the results of appeals are public record, the vast majority of people who did't take the call and did not go blabbing anything to unemployment, had their denial overturned on appeal. When you speak to unemployment, your odds are reduced.
Now, recently some states have rolled out the "no determination until they speak to you" but this is where a person has to be strong enough to say "I don't know" "Beats me" "I sort of went limped after they told me I'm fired and didn't hear why" "I couldn't hear the reason with all my crying". The skilled interrogators are trained to extract information using many tricks. Those can even be false or deceptive but effective at getting you to start talking. Unemployment interviewers are not stupid, they are skilled at getting a person to talk so you have to be strong enough to refrain from being your own worst enemy by blabbing. Unfortunately many who come to the Unemployment sub forum for advice were weak.
However, I would be very interested in hearing your justification why you feel the advice to "Not take the call" is bad advice.
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