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I live in California and was recently fired from my job after 5 1/2 years. I applied for unemployment and was denied. My UI determination stated that I was being denied because my employer said I refused to follow reasonable directions.
I was working in a doctor's office in the medical records dept. and the practice has nine doctors. There were five people in my dept. Four full time and one part-time. The part-time employee was the billing manager's son and he pretty much came in when he wanted and left when he wanted with no set schedule. We all had daily tasks that we were responsible for (mail, faxes, refile, etc.) which we each did on a certain day of the week. My regular mail/fax day was Thursday. One of my co-workers asked me to switch with her because she was going to be out on her mail/fax day which was Friday. The office is transitioning from hard charts to electronic charts (EMR). I was responsible for scanning all of the loose filing and appointment folders (every patient that had an appointment with my assigned doctors has all paperwork generated for that appointment put into a yellow folder) for three doctors where as every one else in my dept. had only one or two doctors. On that very busy Friday, I was in the mail room stamping the mail and the company administrator came in and asked me "what's up with Dr. ****'s scanning. It had been a hectic week and I was behind in my scanning. I explained to her that I was doing my best and that I was literally overwhelmed with doing my daily tasks, covering the daily tasks of the employee that was out that day, phone calls, messages, records requests, helping patients that came to my dept. and trying to work on my scanning. I told her that when **** (the part time employee) came in again I would have him help me and I would be caught up in a few days. She then asked when is he coming in again? I told her I wasn't sure because he didn't have a set schedule. I said maybe **** (his mom) would know and to ask her. She said "**** is not his keeper!" The only reason I said to ask his mom is because they live in the same house and maybe he had mentioned to her when he was coming in again. She then told me either way that it has to get done. I told her I would start working on it today and reiterated that I was doing my best. I was not at all insubordinate or rude. I had spoken to my immediate supervisor earlier in the week and let her know that I was behind and that I would have **** help me when he came in again and I would be caught up in a few days and she was fine with that. Then on Monday, I was busy working on my scanning when I got called into the administrators office. I went in and my supervisor and the administrator were there. The administrator said that they were letting me go because when she had spoken to me on Friday, my attitude was, in her words "oh well, too bad, so sad". I was utterly speechless. I could not believe this was happening. She then said that after she had spoken to me on that Friday that I went to the nurse's station and was talking to them about her talking to me. I did go to the nurse's station after she spoke to me, to pick up the loose scanning that had accumulated that day and let the nurse's that assist my three doctors know that I was behind but would be caught up in a few days. I always tried to keep them informed about how things were going as far as my scanning went because if there was something like lab results, MRI reports, outside records or any other information they needed scanned in right away because the patient was coming in, they would let me know and I would scan it in right away instead of putting it in my in basket. So, I applied for unemployment and got denied and filed an appeal. I just picked up a copy of my file from the hearing office yesterday. My ex-employer states that when asked about Dr. ****'s scanning that I replied "because I don't have time and it will be ready when I say it is finished". That is such a lie!! They also say I was warned on that Friday and twice on Monday (the day I was fired) and yet I continued to argue, was combative and refused to do what they were asking me to do, another lie. It just so happens that the day after I was fired, my immediate supervisor's step daughter took my place, hmmm. Sorry this is so long. It's gonna be my word against theirs. I guess they couldn't tell unemployment the reason I was fired is because I had an "oh well, too bad, so sad" attitude. I hope the ALJ will be able to see through their ridiculous lies. I have never, ever talked to my superiors the way they say I did. I really hope I win this appeal. Its been three months and I could really use the money. I will update after I go to court in six days. Wish me luck!!
Last edited by Angieluckytoo; 08-16-2012 at 05:03 PM..
Reason: I wasn't finished
This is what you are being denied for: "My UI determination stated that I was being denied because my employer said I refused to follow reasonable directions."
Focus on what you were told to do that day.
You've got a lot to your story, but the key points are:
You were assigned too many tasks on a busy day when a person (or two) was absent.
You were doing your best.
It's not just your word against theirs. The employer is going to have to say what reasonable instruction(s) you failed to follow, and prove it, and it's going to have to be misconduct. Short of your employer having a video with audio with you saying, "go pound sand, what you're asking me to do, is not my job," or you saying same at your hearing in front of the ALJ, the employer can't prove squat.
Not being able to pick up the extra work of an absent employee(s) is not misconduct.
But lets just assume they somehow prove you argued with your employer and was being 'disrespectful ' .
According to the misconduct threshold that I have read, even if they somehow prove you made an 'outburst' , its an isolated case and not a pattern of abuse.
Egro in my opinioin will win your unemployment benefits. I have saved many links on misconduct and every one I have read has specifically dealt with employee / employer outbursts and they have specifically ruled that one argument does not constitute misconduct worthy of denying benefits.
UPDATE-Had my appeal hearing today. My ex-employer didn't even show up. I still presented my case to the ALJ and had a witness to help back up what I was saying. I hope he rules in my favor since they didn't even bother to show up.
I just received my decision today Friday 8/24, it only took 2 days!! Is that quick or what? I won, thank goodness. I hope my ex-employer doesn't appeal. Does anyone know if I have to wait the 20 days to see if they do appeal? or how long before I start receiving benefits? Whew, am I glad all this is behind me (hopefully). Thanks for all of your words of encouragement and advice.
You know I almost hired a lawyer to represent me. I found his info on line and he told me he would charge me a flat fee of $100 to represent me by telephone because he was located in Pennsylvania. I thought that was a fair deal. I faxed him all of my paperwork and got an e-mail back saying that he would accept payment through paypal in the amount of $400. I think once he saw how much I was going to get in back pay, he decided to charge a contingency. He never mentioned anything about a contingency fee when we were talking about how much he would charge, he told me a flat fee of $100. I e-mailed him back and said that I simply couldn't afford $400, and thanked him for considering my case. He e-mailed me back and said how much can you afford? I never even answered him back.
Thanks again for the encouragement and advice. I'll let you guys know if I hear anything back about my ex-employer appealing the ALJ's decision.
You won't know if the employer appeals until they actually do, and they have the full 20 days and then some if they can establish good cause for being late.
Do us a favor and type in the main points of why you won. It helps sort through how the judges actually view the facts so when we do try to help others in these appeals we can help claimants focus on what is actually going to be of help. If it was mainly because your employer didn't show, then tell us that too because I'm almost of the opinion that an employer "no show"="benefits," but I'd like to see more cases to support that belief.
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