GA Board of Review - Help! (file, receive, claim, work)

[RKellie]

HELP!!!! I received my Acknowledgement of Appeal Letter in the mail. The letter also stated:

"All appeals to the Board of Review are decided upon the testimony and documents already presented to the Administrative Hearing Officer. The Board will not take additional evidence in accordance with Official Rule of Georgia Dept of Labor 300-2-5-03(2)."

I'm confused at this point and not sure what I should do since I only have ten (10) days to submit an argument. I have read all of the threads and I guess I am not understanding what is being said or just too stressed out about the situation. I welcome all advice and suggestions. I do have a written argument letter or should I do nothing but wait and see????

[Chyvan]

You start by typing in the intial determination that you received, and then you type in the decision from the tribunal hearing. From that, we may ask you some question and tell you if you have something worth appealing to the board for.

[RKellie]

Initial determination - Section 34-8-194(2) (8) (ii) of the employment Security Law says that you can be paid unemployment benefits if you were fired for failure to perform you dob duties, but you did not deliberately fail or willfully neglect to perform those duties. The law says that your employer has to show that discharge or suspension was for a reason that would not allow you to be paid unemployment benefits. "You was fired for unsatisfactory job performance. You was not warned that your performance was about to cause you to lose your job. You were not told why your work was not acceptable. You were not given a change to correct what was wrong. The available facts show you did not deliberately fail to perform the duties for which hired. Therefore, you can be paid unemployment benefits".

Tribunal Hearing - Reason for decision: O.C.G.A Section 34-8-194(2) (A) provides for a disqualification when a claimant is discharged or suspended for failure to obey rules; orders or instructions or for failure to perform the duties for which employed. In this case the claimant was discharged upon failure to perform the duties for which she was employed. the evidence clearly shows she was capable of performing them and that she failed to do so even after having been warned. Disqualification is required.

1. I was not told I was going to be fired.
2. There is no formal write up/documentation leading to my termination

[Chyvan]

Originally Posted by RKellie

Tribunal Hearing - Reason for decision: O.C.G.A Section 34-8-194(2) (A) provides for a disqualification when a claimant is discharged or suspended for failure to obey rules; orders or instructions or for failure to perform the duties for which employed. In this case the claimant was discharged upon failure to perform the duties for which she was employed. the evidence clearly shows she was capable of performing them and that she failed to do so even after having been warned. Disqualification is required.

1. I was not told I was going to be fired.
2. There is no formal write up/documentation leading to my termination

I get why you want to appeal. Let's work on this. What were the findings of fact as the judge wrote them?

[Ariadne22]

the evidence clearly shows she was capable of performing them and that she failed to do so even after having been warned. Disqualification is required.

1. I was not told I was going to be fired.
2. There is no formal write up/documentation leading to my termination

Did you view the evidence file prior to the Appeal hearing?
Did you attend this hearing?
On what evidence is ALJ citing you've been warned?
Did employer specific dates for verbal warnings without any documentation?

This is why Chyvan is asking for the Findings of Fact.

[RKellie]

Chyvan:

Findings of Fact: the claimant was employed with the employer from 3/2007 - 6/2014 the employer is a construction company. The claimant was employed as contracts administrator. The claimant failed to perform a critical routine duty she was capable of performing. In June 2013 she was warned that failure to perform the duty would result in her discharge. Following the warning, she was counseled for other performance failures she was able to perform. Finally, in June 2014 the employer learned that she again failed to perform her critical routine duty of updating the tracking schedule since 3/2014.

Ariadene22 -

Did you view the evidence file prior to the Appeal hearing? NO there was NO EVIDENCE - however they brought up one documentation dated in 2011 which was expedited from my file after one year, which at the time of the hearing the ALJ did NOT have a copy of and neither did I!?!?

Did you attend this hearing? The hearing was conducted OVER THE PHONE

On what evidence is ALJ citing you've been warned? All that was said was based on HEARSAY their word against mine.

Did employer specific dates for verbal warnings without any documentation? - NO, they used phases like "it was the second or third week in June" when they asked what day the response was "it was early in the week Monday or a Tuesday but before Friday"

[Chyvan]

Did the employer prove that they suffered some adverse result because of your failure? Seriously, if it took the employer until June to learn of a mistake in March, it couldn't possibly have been that big of a deal.

You've got stuff to work with.

You can challenge the evidence.

You can challenge the reasonableness. If someone were to tell me that I must never make a typo in an email, I'd be fired my first day. Just what was this "routine task," it's very nature might lend itself to making mistakes.

Also, consider the testimony, "did these people testifing see you make the mistake? Could they have found it sooner? Did they actually show the mistake or just testify about it? Were you in a position to say, "it never happened"?

I think you should write something and send it in. It doesn't have to be great writing, but just good enough to make reasonable points that are valid. Stay away from rehashing the hearing or trying to add new evidence. You're really try to say why the judge was off base in the interpretation of what was said or presented.

[RKellie]

The employer did not suffer a thing... I'll try to explain it to you the best way possible without typing a book. The project schedule chart accessible and reciprocated in two systems.... in other words I will go in one system to update and then another. Long story short......one chart was up to date and one was not if it was not in one system it was in the other everything in that department was reciprocated.

All work the was completed by me was Pre-approved and initialed by a VP before going out nothing went out the door without VP approval.

Is it possible to send you a copy of my letter????

[Chyvan]

It's it so private that you can't post it? Usually, they should be a page or less because realistically, no wants to read more than a page. so put the important stuff first. If someone was supposed to double check your work, was that brought up at the hearing? That is a good point.

[RKellie]

No, that was not brought up at the hearing. I really did not like the way the hearing was conducted. It was basically a conversation about me and I was just listening to what was being said. I could not interrupt I was instructed not to say a word. I had to wait until the end to say anything by that time I could not even think straight because I was shocked and angry with all of the fabricated lies being said. I will send my letter in tomorrow.... hopefully, if I win the appeal I will post it for all to see. Then again I can tweek it to show you how I address the issue..... let me know if you want me to post it.