Denied Unemployment Benefits. (file, receive, claim, qualify)

[Tony0783]

Alright so here is the situation. I was terminated for not following a certain step in a procedure. I did not call maintenance to help fix a machine. I was under the impression that this was for technical reasons but apparently it was due to safety reasons. Maintenance trained me how to fix the machine and they frequently worked on the machine by themselves despite having no extra safety training. Many of us had the exact same knowledge of the machine as maintenance technicians. Needless to say I may have made a mistake by assuming I was qualified to work on said machine alone. It is not clear about why we need to call maintenance or if there are any exceptions. All the procedure says about the subject is to call maintenance and I did not due to my experience being on par to those in maintenance who had worked on it by themselves.

My question is does that truly disqualify me from receiving Unemployment Benefits? If so that is fine but I want to know what my options are. The reason they gave for denying is I "Did not perform work to the employer's standards although I had previously demonstrated I was capable of doing adequate work". That is considered as misconduct connected with work.

If you have any other question please feel free to ask and I will be extremely grateful for any help. Thanks.

[Chyvan]

Originally Posted by Tony0783

"Did not perform work to the employer's standards although I had previously demonstrated I was capable of doing adequate work".

Are you in TX? That is very similiar to the wording they use as a way to justify a denial based on poor performance.

If you don't appeal, then it's going to stay a denial. Submit an appeal request. Say no more than "the determination dated mm/dd/yy is wrong. I want an appeal hearing scheduled." You'll get a hearing notice with a date. It may also contain information that the deputy collected to make the determination. If not, it will direct you to the location of where the information is being collected at the hearing location. Go view it. Then come back and tell us what is in there.

[Tony0783]

Yes I am in Texas. I will file an appeal then and let you know what I figure out. Thanks so much for the response.

[Chyvan]

I could just tell. That is the only state I know that has succeeded in making poor performance a disqualifier.

These are some things that can win this for you. Some employers don't show for the hearing. Some employers don't send the right people to the hearing. After you view the file or receive the deputy notes, you have to look to what you've said. There looks to be two paths this case could go. The way the decision was made, and what you can do then is show that you were performing consistently the same or you could try to show that you NEVER did an adequate job. Either will work overcome that particular wording.

At the hearing there's the possibility of the "rules violation" determination. That requires that there was a rule (regarding calling maintenance), that you knew the rule, that you violated the rule, that it was material, that you'd been warned about it in the past. Let's just say there is enough things that your employer has to prove that many people get UI even when they break rules.

[Ariadne22]

Employee made a one-time judgment call, albeit intentional, based on a misunderstanding of why the rule existed, and he is disqualified from benefits??

It can only happen in Texas.

You'd have your benefits, with possibly only a short misconduct penalty, in any other state. Actually, a one-time violation with no previous warning wouldn't even warrant that in most states.

Chyvan, is this a winnable issue in Texas?

[Chyvan]

Depends on what was actually said to the deputy, and what will be said at the hearing.

Unemployment Claim Denied. Not Meeting Quota = Misconduct?? Texas This person got a similar denial, but the findings of fact clearly show that the claimant NEVER met the quota and the ALJ misapplied the case law. It was fixed by appealing for a review.

I only know what this person is telling me. The employer might have gone in an entirely different direction. That's why it's so important to view that file to see what is in there. If they are going down the "you used to do a good job" route then it's really important to know that so you can testify that you NEVER did an acceptable job, and if you have any bad performance reviews, submit them. Also, you should never try to defend yourself as to the poor performance nor submit anything to indicate that you ever did an acceptable job.

[Tony0783]

Please. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is an update because I have a hearing on Monday and was wondering if I am just wasting my time because I am not really sure I can even qualify for benefits at all at this point. I definitely didn't think this through or know what I was doing so it probably isn't in my favor. I just need someone else's opinion.

They fired me for Job Performance. Here is some of the information I gave them some of it taken out of context. Anyways, this is what they know from the document they sent me.

START.

- Did something specific happen that caused you to be fired? Yes. I misunderstood intent and failed to follow a step in a procedure involving machinery.

- Fired? - Yes. I forgot and failed to follow safety protocol involving the same piece of machinery shortly after employment.

- Did you do what you were warned about? No. They were different violations involving the same piece of machinery.

NOTE: This isn't part of the document. Both violations were considered safety violations. Although the machine broke during the second incident they claim it was the matter of not calling maintenance for safety reasons rather than technical reasons. I thought it was for technical reasons we were calling maintenance and unfortunately skipped that step. The fact that it was my second safety violation involving the same piece of equipment is what did it.

NOTE: They contacted my employer but got no response so all their information came from me.

- What was the reason you were fired? I was told it was my job performance.

Was there a final incident that caused the discharge? If yes, explain.

- I was told it was my job performance. It was a mistake. I didn't follow the procedure for the machine and it broke. I was told I didn't call maintenance to fix it.

NOTE: Pretty sure that's not exactly what I said but whatever.

- Job duties at time of termination? Process recycled materials. Machine operator.

- How long had you been performing these duties? Since hire. 2 years?

- Any recent change in job duties or job expectations? None.

- Question was cut off here but answer was there? Broke part of the machine, and I did not call maintenance.

Note: Again the braking of the machine part had nothing to do with the reason for fire as it was considered a "safety violation" not to call maintenance.

- Had they ever been satisfied with your job performance? Yes.

NOTE: Kind of out of context in my opinion. Not sure what they are getting at with that question. We performed many different jobs in a rotation so I was told I had performed well on different jobs don't remember which ones they referred to specifically.

- Question not clear in printing? I made a mistake and I misinterpreted a part of the procedure. I didn't call maintenance because I knew how to fix it, but I was told that I should have called someone.

- Ever warned, placed on probation, or suspended because of job performance? Yes. I had been suspended about a year and a half ago for my performance. It was a one day suspension.

NOTE: This was a past safety violation where I forgot to follow an important safety precaution in a procedure. Both of these incidents were considered safety violations on the same machine although no incident came from the safety violations themselves. The first was clearly neglect as I forgot to follow procedure and admitted to when questioned. Big fan of honesty. The second was a misinterpretation. I was not the only person with the misinterpretation but that doesn't really matter as I don't have proof. Anyways I just wanted to clarify.

- Were you working to the best of your ability? Yes I was.

"This incident happened about 4 days before I was let go. I had operated the machine before but when I performed maintenance on the machine I didn't put the screen back in correctly the blade hit the screen and broke. I thought that since maintenance had shown me what to do and I did it before I could handle it on my own."

TYPE: Fired
REASON: Performance

QUALIFIED: N

RATIONALE: NPD: Claimant admits negligence on his behalf causing damages to employer property.

NOTE: First off I wasn't fired for damages to company property. It was for a safety violation possibly due to being my second one. Secondly I do not feel I was being negligent as I was performing the job to my best ability and made a poor decision based on a misinterpretation of a step in a procedure. I had replaced this screen many times by myself with supervision.

CONCLUSION: Fired - Failed to perform to employer's satisfaction-Disqualified


END.

Maybe I am just wasting my time, and I am sure I didn't handle the situation well as this was the first time I have filed for unemployment. I definitely wasn't prepared.

Any Advice?

[Chyvan]

Did you submit an appeal request yet?

I have hope for you because your employer didn't respond. That's a good indicator that they don't care if you get UI and may very well not appear at the hearing.

Also, in these notes, were these written by you or is a lot of it from a conversation? If it's verbal, then you can modify your story as in really take out the details.

[Tony0783]

The "NOTES" were written by me for your knowledge and have nothing to do with the appeal document they sent me. The first 3 lines after the "START" were written by me when I first filed an unemployment claim. The rest were verbal when they called me over the phone for a follow up. Much of it doesn't match up to what was really said.

Yes. I filed an appeal request, and typed the information they sent me with the appeal hearing document. The hearing is by phone on Monday.

[Tony0783]

The verbal conversation started with "What was the reason you were fired" and ended with "Were you working to the best of your ability".