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Hello, and thanks in advance for any help you can provide me with. I was terminated from my job about 1.5 months ago for a “timecard error”. It was completely unintentional and I never admitted to it. I was a cable guy. The thing with my job was that we were responsible for clocking in and out throughout the day: once, at the beginning of the day, then we clocked out before lunch, then back in after, and finally, at the end of the day we punched out a final time. One day, after clocking out after lunch, I clocked back in after the hour, but didn’t leave my “lunch spot” until 50 minutes afterwards. Our Vans are monitored by GPS. This was a common thing, to wait for some time after lunch to get organized and calculate our next job’s timeframe, distance away, contact the customer, etc. The difference being that it wasn’t usually a 50 minute wait. On this particular day, I honestly don’t know what took so long for me to leave my lunch spot and head to my next job. My boss asked me about it a couple weeks after and I told him I’m not sure what took so long. He said that I have to come up with a valid excuse, he said “15-25 minutes is ok, but 50 minutes is not”. I have this conversation recorded. I was never able to come up with anything and the most discriminating thing I said to him was “maybe it was a day that I took a nap during my lunch, forgot to punch back in afterwards, and manually punched in later – only taking one hour by mistake.” This was never confirmed, and I was not able to give him any valid reason, so I was terminated shortly thereafter. I never showed up for my termination meeting with HR which was supposed to be brought upon me by surprise before a regular work day. Before that day, I noticed that there weren’t any jobs on my route, so I called my boss to ask why. He said we need to talk with HR about the timecard discrepancy, I asked him if I’m getting fired, he said he can’t discuss it over the phone, and then I told him that I wouldn’t make it in that day because I’m ill and if they want to fire me, they can do so when I’m feeling better. I never admitted to any wrongdoing, and never signed any paperwork. I was terminated over the phone. When I filed for unemployment I chose “laid off”. I was denied under the “misconduct” rule and didn’t take the original phone call interview¹. I just received my determination letter stating that I’m ineligible because of misconduct. I wrote a letter stating “The determination dated 1/17/20 is wrong. I want an appeal hearing scheduled.” I'm still waiting to hear back from them. Please give me any advise you can and please ask me anything that I may have left out. Thank you so much for your time.
Yeah, I'm sorry for the repeat post but I've not gotten any advice as of yet. Anyways, here is the letter I received after skipping the phone call, word-for-word:
The following determination has been made on connection with the claim for unemployment insurance benefits.
Based on all the determinations regarding your claim, you are not eligible for benefits until you meet the eligibility requirements.
Please read each determination carefully.
Issue 001 602A – Misconduct
Deny Effective 12/15/2019 – 12/31/9999
Was the claimant discharged for misconduct connected with the work? The evidence shows the claimant was discharged from XXX because of timecard falsification. There was a variance of time that could not be accounted for. Since the reason the claimant was discharged constituted a violation of a known and reasonable company rule, the claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with the work. The claimant is ineligible for benefits from 12/15/2019 and will be determined ineligible until he meets the eligibility requirements.
Today, I received a letter stating that I will be notified about when the appeal hearing is. So I'm just waiting for a date. Thanks!
Send a DM to Janja1. She has recent experience of the steps to follow to get your hearing file. You're going to need it to prepare. We need to know if the evidence is all hearsay or damning reports of your gps coordinates and times.
Thanks Chyvan, I will do that. There are GPS reports; that is how they found out about the 50 minutes after my lunch break. However, this wasn't unusual. We always had to "wait around" for our next job. I just should have gone to the actual job site to wait, but unfortunately I didn't on this day. Also, I have a recorded phone call with my boss who said that 15-20 minutes after lunch is ok - not sure if that's relevant.
Thanks Chyvan, I will do that. There are GPS reports; that is how they found out about the 50 minutes after my lunch break. However, this wasn't unusual. We always had to "wait around" for our next job. I just should have gone to the actual job site to wait, but unfortunately I didn't on this day. Also, I have a recorded phone call with my boss who said that 15-20 minutes after lunch is ok - not sure if that's relevant.
Your only hope is that these reports are not included in the file and that nobody shows up from your employer - and that your own words haven’t damned you already.
It’s a loser of a case, it’s pretty clear misconduct, but crazier things have happened.
Thanks guys for your input. I guess my only "defense" will be I was fired and I'm not sure why. Does the fact that my boss told me that waiting around for as long as 25 minutes is ok matter at all? And I have a recording of him telling me that. He was basically condoning the "misconduct" as long as it was only 25 minutes. Why would 25 minutes be ok but 50 is considered misconduct?
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