hypothetical fired question (collect, apply, UI, state)

[DamageInc]

Just something I was curious about , if any experts can answer .
at my first job years they asked me to fly to England & another time California to go to a meeting (From NY) . I do not fly. Afraid of heights , planes etc and the one time I did fly years ago it was a disaster. I was freaking out the whole flight , was sick the whole flight and drove the flight attendants and my wife crazy (Yes I felt like a fool afterwords.) but my job accepted my fear and decided to let me out of going. I always wondered if they had fired me because I did not want to fly to a business meeting , would I have been able to get unemployment due to the fact that I got fired due to not wanting to fly , I had no issue traveling and drove to many states for business, I just could not fly. They never said anything about flying when I got hired. Might be good to know since I am unemployed and if I get a job I may want to ask if there is any travel. (I did tell my last job on the interview I dd not fly and they told me non needed so I ask usually) . And I am currently in NJ if that matters. Thank you.

[Chyvan]

Being fired for not flying is not misconduct provided there was no argeement at the time of hire where you told them you would fly thinking they'd never put you to the test.

[DamageInc]

So essentially as long as I am not asked in the interview then its not mis conduct since it is not something I was told was part of the job BUT if i were asked told and said i would fly then it would be. That makes sense. Thank you .

[Cruz Azul Guy]

The notion that nothing not agreed upon or discussed at the time of hire could later lead to termination for misconduct seems a little ridiculous to me. So by that logic if your employer doesn't mention anything about not being able to punch a client in the face or embezzle millions of dollars then I guess its fair game and not subject to termination for misconduct right? In most companies a refusal to follow a reasonable direction given by management is considered insubordination, which is gross conduct and subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. I think your company could make a strong case that asking somebody to fly to London or California for a business meeting is a reasonable.

[Chyvan]

Originally Posted by Cruz Azul Guy

I think your company could make a strong case that asking somebody to fly to London or California for a business meeting is a reasonable.

That's your opinion. The case law says otherwise. For some people travelling, especially when it might cause them to have to stay overnight, had they known it up front would cause them to either not apply for the job or refuse it.

The extreme things you mention about punching a customer or embezzling involve issues of breaking the law. Also, an employer can scream insubordination all they want. If you ask someone to do something outside their job duties, while it is insubordination, that's not misconduct as defined for the purposes of the UI system.

Any time an employer changes the job, all bets are slanted towards the employee if they want to refuse the new duties, and collect UI as the consolation prize. The employee might be sorry later, but that's the risk one takes.

To do otherwise would give companies great latitude to hire highly-skilled, high-wage employees and put them into situations after hire that they'd never have agreed to. They may have even left great jobs to accept these false promises.

I rejected my employers changes and so did Quit due to schedule change - denied unemployment, and we both got UI, but it took some time, but the precedents were all there.

Maybe you'll learn something so if you're ever in a situation where your employer is adversely changing your job, you'll know now that there is an alternative other than just taking it and finding a new job.