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I have this job and they are really putting the heat on. I don't want to get fired and not be able to collect COBRA benefits. If one is fired for gross misconduct one doesn't get to collect COBRA benefits. I looked on the Net and there really isn't a firm definition that I found. Can an employer just say that not meeting their performance standards constitutes gross misconduct?
I work for this crappy employer and am thinking about quitting before they get a chance to fire me - just in case.
I have this job and they are really putting the heat on. I don't want to get fired and not be able to collect COBRA benefits. If one is fired for gross misconduct one doesn't get to collect COBRA benefits. I looked on the Net and there really isn't a firm definition that I found. Can an employer just say that not meeting their performance standards constitutes gross misconduct?
I work for this crappy employer and am thinking about quitting before they get a chance to fire me - just in case.
I was in a similar situation where I felt like I was being set up. IMO, you not meeting their performance standards is not gross misconduct. Gross misconduct is bad like stealing, drinking on the job, fighting, sexual misconduct, stuff like that. I am unemployed now and my last job they downsized so they were making things bad for people. I wanted to quit before getting fired but they eliminated my job, put me on a new task in the warehouse for which I wasn't hired for. I went to HR and told them this, I cannot lift heavy things etc. I explained I felt I was being forced out, but if anything, they should lay me off. I guess they got the message as they tried something and I could have brought legal action against them, the next day I was laid off, and so relieved to be out of there. So now I collect UI and have cobra.
You don't mention what they are doing to turn the heat on. What are you doing or not doing that might be "gross misconduct"? A lot of employers will try to get away with things that are illegal by Dept of Labor standards. Would you prefer getting laid off to quitting? I did, as I am a senior worker and hard for me to find work. I never gave the "crappy" company I worked for any reason to fire me.
Gross mis conduct is the willfull action of an employee to not perform an assigned job, theft, fighting, sexual harrassment, habitual misses or tardiness, or disrupting the work force, etc.
Occasional mistakes or the failure of the employer to do proper training that results in substandard job peformance by an employee is not a basis for the charge of gross mis conduct.
I was in supervision when I retired. An employer has to have good reasons, documentation, and a paper trail (unless it was a sudden, unacceptable action) to support their charges.
An employer can't just trump up these charges because of your race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, or because they dont like the color of your hair.
I don't know you and don't know whether or not you are a good employee.
But that kind of charge has to have hard, specific, provable, facts and documentaion.
What concerns me is that they have now laid out the path to termination with documentation complete and have started firing people on strange grounds.
If I do not meet my producitivity standards for one week, I get a verbal warning. If it happens again, another verbal warning. The third time I am written up, fourth time written up, fifth time terminated. Now - this may seem reasonable until one realizes I work in SOCIAL SERVICES. I've already started making phone calls I really didn't need to, just to meet "productivity," and that is fine by them, as if I make one phone call for one minute they bill $14 for it. All in all, the whole thing bothers me, which is why I am starting to think ahead to my departure.
What concerns me is that they have now laid out the path to termination with documentation complete and have started firing people on strange grounds.
If I do not meet my producitivity standards for one week, I get a verbal warning. If it happens again, another verbal warning. The third time I am written up, fourth time written up, fifth time terminated. Now - this may seem reasonable until one realizes I work in SOCIAL SERVICES. I've already started making phone calls I really didn't need to, just to meet "productivity," and that is fine by them, as if I make one phone call for one minute they bill $14 for it. All in all, the whole thing bothers me, which is why I am starting to think ahead to my departure.
I read your other thread " Finding a job over 40" and commented there. You mention there and not here more information regarding your work, especially about forced OT, working for free etc. So there are other issues concerning you and your job but it's hard to comment in 2 places.
Did you know about these Productivity standards when you got hired? If these tasks are unreasonable, which is what was being done to me, I just did what I can do and that's it till I got laid off. Now if they prevented me from UI, I would have gone to a lawyer. Also this could be appealed at the Unemployment office level.
Also, keep a paper trail. I sent all my emails home and printed them out. I also complained to my Manager (a..hole) that I was in over my head, by email, to document it.
Pretty much anything you do in this day and age can and will justify misconduct that can get you terminated. All corporations and small businesses have a "spy" that watches EVERYTHING you do! and report it to a supervisor, or worse, a Manager! I have been set up many times, and I have been nearly terminated by those creeps many times. No matter which company you work for, DO NOT LET YOUR GUARD DOWN!
i have this job and they are really putting the heat on. I don't want to get fired and not be able to collect cobra benefits. If one is fired for gross misconduct one doesn't get to collect cobra benefits. I looked on the net and there really isn't a firm definition that i found. Can an employer just say that not meeting their performance standards constitutes gross misconduct?
I work for this crappy employer and am thinking about quitting before they get a chance to fire me - just in case.
no, poor work performance is not gross misconduct, examples of gross misconduct is stealing, doing drugs, committing a crime, sexual harassment you get it, being late, bad job performance and all thngs like that are not!
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