Opinions, and what does employer get when you appeal CA? (receive, claim)

[fightforyourrights]

Long story short, I was denied benefits after a phone interview on misconduct-related to most recent work. Basically I was told I was getting a pay raise (per my offer letter after 90 days) and it was entered into notes for payroll by my Mgr when they were right in front of me telling me that my raise was due in 90 days. When payroll time came around for that period to be paid, I entered the raise along with anyone else's rate changes, (I did payroll). A while after I submitted payroll for approval by the Manager, I was dragged into the Mgmt office and asked why I gave myself a pay increase w/o my review and then told I was being let go. My mistake was to ask if I could voluntarily quit, I should have just let them write me up. Lesson learned!

Anyway, I had no idea that it wasn't going to be given to me and it was 20 days past my 90 and they never said they needed to review me or were having trouble with my goals being met, AND the main thing - I only put it in because they mentioned it to me so I thought it was as good as done. They tried to say there was an official form and I should know that, but I honestly did not as I saw other increases go through that same way mine was supposed to. Though, it was par for the course in that place, miscommunications galore! They haven't had someone in the position I was in stay for more than 6 months out of the last five people. The employees at this company all want to get the hell out of there because of mgmt, it's sad. The person in charge is bi-polar and constantly giving crazy instructions, is mean and the place is run like some crazy boot camp and everyone is afraid. They fight every unemployment claim no matter what and also at times attend the hearings. They are unfortunately smart and just wait for someone to do something that they can misconstrue as wanton disregard or willful to get out of paying UI.

Besides just general comments from you all, my main question is this - if I wrote an appeal letter, does the employer get a copy mailed to them of what I wrote? How do you think my chances are? I feel like it sounds bad and that is why they used it against me--it's just a very unfortunate situation where I had all the best intentions but should not have trusted their comments/notes.

Thank you for your help.

[Chyvan]

Yours is an interesting situation. Type in your denial letter - all of it, not just five words.

I don't believe that what you did was misconduct, and if you quit, I think you may have quit with good cause.

The employer sees what you submit for your appeal REQUEST. Just ask for the appeal, but don't go into detail. Save that for the hearing.

Talk more about the promised raised, if you still have the proof in the offer letter, if you have a screen print of the note that you get one. Did you do anything to get your employer to give you a raise at the 90 day mark? What did you put in your letter of resignation? Did you say "quit" or "discharged" on your UI application? What all more have you said to the interviewer?

[fightforyourrights]

Yes, I have the offer letter and emails to back it up including the list of goals. Yes, I completed all my 90 days goals to the best of my ability. In the letter I just put I resigned for "personal reasons". UI already determined that they discharged me, the employer told them so and that they let me resign. In the interview they were already told by the employer what happened for the most part. I told them what happened but she seemed pretty mean/rude. I am scared to go to the hearing because the person that will be there from my former job is very intimidating and mean and caused me a lot of stress. I have always been a top-notch worker but she made me feel like dirt - was a total wrong fit. I spoke to another former employee and they were "fired" for dumb reasons that EDD saw through and gave his to him, and also told him that my employer always has a ton of claims! They had 20% turnover rate just in the 3+ months I was there.

I wanted to quit weeks before and should have...now I'm kind of in a terrible situation. I have some health issues that just sprung up and I can work, but it sure would be nice to have this extra income I feel I am due.

What do you think about hiring a rep for my meeting? I think it may help me. I don't know how an ALJ will look at this.

I will type in my denial letter as soon as I can and make another post.


Thank you so much for your help! For some reason I never got a reply email to this I just happened to come back on here!

[krawhitham]

I read your story and I wanted to tell you that your office sounds *exactly* like my former office. People in charge totally miscommunicating everything, emotionally unstable bosses, employees that want to leave, high turnover, management grabbing any little thing they can to fight unemployment.

I expect my former employer to be at my hearing and I *did* spend the money to speak to an attorney. I have the money and I will gladly use it to make sure my point comes across to win my case. I wouldn't be surprised if my employer brought a lawyer to try to intimidate me. Everyones case is different. You have to make those decisions for yourself, but I'll post and let everyone here how my hearing goes with the lawyer and I'll let you know whether or not I thought it was worth the money.

[Rabrrita]

Originally Posted by fightforyourrights

How do you think my chances are?

The misconduct issue is a huge one.

The issue boils down to this: Did you give yourself a raise without the proper authorization to do so? So, what are the procedures whenever a person receives a raise? Do you get something or do you have a schedule of raises? Have they ever told you to just give a raise once they reach X days after hiring?

You are going to have to show that the raise you gave yourself was not done by you abusing your power as the payroll person and was not intended as defrauding the company. It's not if you acted in a capacilty you thought was right, you need to show you acted in a manner that did not favor you over all others due raises.