What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia
The manager of a retail store has an employee that has been demoted from Asst. Mgr. (this is documented) and still works in the store. The, now, former Asst. Mgr. has the attitude and actions of wishing to be fired so he may obtain UIB. His goal as even he told the Mgr. is to be fired to get UIB. The employee is consistently late (by at least 30 min to one hour), on the cellphone during working hours conducting personal business while sitting in the men's toilet room, balks anytime mgmt asks employee to perform required and work-related activities, etc. The manager knows the employee can be fired, but is timid to do so because the employee will file for, AND GET, UIB.
1. How can this ineffective employee be fired and insure he DOES NOT obtain UIB?
2. What other tools can be used to punish this employee if/when he does go to GA Unemployment Svcs seeking and/or gets UIB?
Thank you for your time and guidance.
I strenuously disagree with the bolded phrase above. No, he won't get UIB, if you go about this situation intelligently. Being stupid enough to tell the manager he WANTS to be fired is the first wrong thing he's done. Be sure this conversation was documented, place a notation in his file. Then, deal with the violations, clearly and with professionalism.
Be sure the employer has firm policies in place, for example, that there is a policy against using his cell phone during working hours, or a policy about lateness over so many minutes, so many times, and that violations of these policies can result in termination. In other words,
make sure that the stupid employee knows that if he continues to do this (being late, for example) he is in great danger of termination. Make sure he is warned, and try to get his signature on at least one warning.
Be careful not to fall into the "kitchen sink" trap. This is the situation sometimes seen by the unemployment system where a person is trying to get fired, and he violates so many rules and does so many bad things that there is no one big outstanding issue, and the inquiry indicates that the employee was fired for everything in the world "...and the kitchen sink," and there is no clear cut clearly documented misconduct reason for the termination. I suggest you address the tardiness, which is a very easy clean clear cut reason to terminate, having given warnings, watched the employee carefully, and having a documented tardiness policy. Even though he's doing all sorts of other little things, stay with the tardiness, give warnings, keep records, and then fire for this one reason only.
What they are looking for is "Did this employee have the opportunity to change this behavior and keep his job and he voluntarily chose to violate the policy again, even knowing that he could be terminated for it?" See? It's his choice to do that which he knows will get him fired.
Be careful also that if, when you tell him he's terminated, if he goes off and curses you, screams, throws things, has to be removed from the premises by the police, that you do not then tell the employment office that he was fired because of this behavior, or for insubordination or something of this nature. Keep the issue of his firing related to that one reason only, the tardiness, or the mis-use of the cell phone in violation of the policy, what ever you have given him warnings about, and dealt with multiple times. Clean clearcut consistently enforced policies which all the employees of the business are aware of, and progressive consistent discipline for employees who violate the policies are the best defenses against terminated employees being able to get approved for unemployment benefits.
As to punishing him beyond firing him and keeping him from drawing unemployment benefits, let me be clear. Anyone has the right to file an unemployment claim, any time. This is not something you can ever stop someone from doing. However, there will be an inquiry, and he will not be granted benefits without an investigation and a decison and appeal process. You will need to participate in this process and present your documentation of the reason why the person was terminated, and that you did have a valid, misconduct reason for the termination.
As for further punishment, some states, and I believe GA may be one of them, have mandates where a person is not permitted to receive any kind of public assistance (such as Food stamps) immediately after they have been fired for good cause (as determined by the unemployment filing process) or have voluntarily quit a job. But otherwise, keeping him from drawing unemployment benefits is about as rude as you can get to him. Be smart, and you will be able to outsmart this person who is obviously under the delusion that all he has to be is fired, and he's approved for unemployment. That's NOT the case at all.
