Fact-Finding Interview

[jode]

Virginia - Was issued a notice of telephonic fact-finding interview from the unemployment office. Was terminated for "performance" and was given a 30-day performance improvement plan. A major part included completed 9 technical documents (normally I would complete in 2 months) plus other activities. Completed all activities (including training my replacement) but the documents kept coming back repeatedly from the manager requiring rewrites. I technically completed the docs though at the end of the period the manager did not give me feedback until after the 30 days noting more changes needed. Was terminated a week later and was not able to collect emails as was not allowed to access my computer at termination. My counterpart (still there) would be able to verify the diligence in and the completion of the documentation but I'm sure would be afraid of reprisal if was asked to testify on my behalf. What chance/defense do I have to get unemployment?

 

[swalsh411]

You don't need her testimony and it's not right to put her in that position. Simply state you did your job to the best of your abilities. That's all you need to say. It could be that their expecations were unrealistic. It could be that you're not cut out for the job. Either way, you did your best and I don't see any misconduct here. They would need to prove you were slacking off, surfing the web, chatting, etc. to get you disqualifed for misconduct. Simply not meeting performance standards isn't good enough.

 

[commentator]

Yep, you're trying to make this way too technical. I had to read it two or three times before I could understand what you meant when you said, "...there were nine technical documents" That bit was a little confusing. The fact finding hearing is one of the very early stages of the unemployment process. You said one thing, the employer has said another, and the adjudicator who is going to make the initial decision has elected to have you both on a "fact finding" hearing by telephone before issuing this decision.

As with all unemployment processes, keep it simple, do not provide excesses of unasked for detail and listen closely to the questions that you are asked by the adjudication officer. What they are trying to determine is as swalsh says, did they have a valid misconduct reason to terminate you? This does not mean you didn't do the job to their standards, but that you had the capability to do it, and chose not to do it. Not being able to perform as they wish you had performed is not actual misconduct unless they can show you had the abilities and capabilities to perform the job, and just didn't. They could raise their standards so that no normal human being could meet their expectations, and then fire the person, but this would not be considered misconduct, and would not disqualify you from receiving unemployment benefits.

You must be out of work "through no fault of your own." Being unable to meet the employer's work expectations may or may not be misconduct, usually isn't unless you were goofing off instead of trying to do the job right.

The standard of proof here is not really high. If they were to produce copies of technical documents that you had deliberately messed up, started and not completed, that would hurt your case, but essentially, if you have told them that you did complete the documents, and they say you did not complete them, the adjudicator will base their decision on which of you is the most believable. You do not at this point remotely need a co-worker's testimony. You can say, if you need to, if they are insisting that you did not complete the documents, you could say, "My former co-worker Sarah Smoot, who signed off on the documents after I had finished them, could verify that I did, in fact, complete all the documents." This wouldn't get Sarah in trouble or require her testimony.

If your claim is denied after this fact finding, and the reason for the denial is said to be specifically the lack of completion of these documents, then you might consider in the appeal asking to subpoena Sarah Smoot for the appeals hearing. But this would be a very unlikely situation. Probably they'll just say they fired you for poor performance (which is one of the most commonly used reasons for termination, and for unemployment purposes, one of the hardest to prove.)

What you need to say, as you have been told, is that you did your best, that you always did the job to the best of your abilities, and that you were trying your hardest to improve your performance and do a good job. If you have worked there a while, be sure to bring up that you have been working there for xxx amount of time, and during that time, until recently you have had acceptable or good evaluations (if this is true.)