Former Employer is fighting my getting Unemployment

[cobrakai]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington Six weeks ago I was called into my HR. I called my union and had a union rep with me there the whole time. HR started reading off this list of accusations that I'd done. One verging on sexual harrassment. These accusations were all made by my ex-girlfriend who I worked with still. Well work had been hell for awhile since her and I had broken up. After all the list of my accusations was read, HR asked me and my union rep to step out so they could talk things over. I was sure I'd get fired. I told my union rep that we should make a deal so that I could quit under 'good' terms and not have the firing on my record. She said it was a good idea and HR was fine with it. I told them that I'd be filing for Unemployment and they understood, but they told me that they'd have to tell them the list of accusations that I was up against, but they said they would not appeal if my unemployment was granted. They even gave me extra vacation payout(100% vice the usual 90% other employees would get), and they gave me an additional $250 out of the kindness of their heart I guess. My union rep and the head of HR said me leaving was for the best.
I talked to WA state unemployment today and they stated that my ex employer is fighting my UE request and it may get denied. No official word has come yet, in WA it takes 6-8 weeks. What if anything can I do? Some of the reasons I put down for quitting when I mailed in my UE paperwork was that I suffer from depression and anxiety (all validated/I am a Disabled Veteran) and the job was just becoming too much with all the accusations and negative vibe at work.
I'd appreciate any help please.

 

[ecmst12]

You quit, and it wasn't after being told you would definitely be fired if you did not quit. Quitting because you were afraid you MIGHT be fired might not fly with UC board.

 

[commentator]

Holy cow, did they ever get you coming and going! Where was your union rep's head? Because you have left your job voluntarily, you gave them the letter and signed the papers that stated you'd done it, and got all the assurance in the world, "oh don't worry, IF YOU GET unemployment APPROVED (secretly thinking, no way, sucker!) we won't fight it!" And they're right. You don't get approved for unemployment if you voluntarily quit your job for personal/health/ whatever reasons, even the initial claim.

And you filled out your unemployment paperwork, and instead of telling them you quit to avoid being fired, you write up this nice letter saying you quit because it was stressing you out, and you're a disabled vet. Well, I hope you get approved in the initial decision, but I will be very surprised. Unemployment is not about how you needed a break, how bad you're being treated, or feeling, etc. Unemployment is about the reason you left your last job. It has to be 'through no fault of your own.' They wanted you gone, and they didn't have progressive discipline or a good misconduct reason to fire you, so they fooled you into quitting for them.

Your best alternative is to, if and when you receive a denial letter in a week aor two, keep filing your weekly certifications for benefits. Immediately on receiving your denial letter, file an appeal. This time, tell the real truth! You were told you were going to be fired because of all these complaints, list of things they had to threaten you with. This was the first time you had heard of these things, and you were given no opportunity to save your job or no warning you were about to be fired. They gave you the glad-hand rush out the door, with a little pittance of severance and pity money, knowing full well that was the last you would cost them.

They gave you the option to quit to "save yourself a bad reference" and agreed with you that they would not fight your unemployment IF you got approved, knowing full well that you would not get approved if you quit and told the unemployment office you were quitting for stress and health reasons.

You may honestly want to consider hiring an attorney, or getting legal services involved in this, because you have just been done dirty by your employer, so to speak and mighty likely won't get unemployment out of it.

Never, ever, agree to resign to avoid being fired! They really don't have your best interests at heart, just their pocketbooks.

 

[ecmst12]

That wouldn't be true, quitting to save the bad reference was OP's idea, not the employer's! He wasn't threatened with termination, the fear/paranoia was all his own. He might have only gotten a write-up, but he wanted to quit instead.

 

[cbg]

All I can add to this is that a few years ago, I had an employee who was sure she was going to be fired (she was right - she was going to be fired the next day). To forestall this, she sent us a letter of resignation which I found on the fax machine (she was at a branch office in a different state) the morning of the day she was going to be fired. We forwarded her final pay and unused vacation, and that was that.

Until she applied for UI. She told them that she quit to forestall being fired - I'll give her this, she was honest about it. The UI office came to us for our version; we said yes, she was going to be fired until she sent us her resignation and this is why we were going to fire her.

Her UI was denied. They told her flat out that she would have been eligible had she been fired, but since she decided to resign instead, she was not eligible.

The kicker is that she was in, and applied for benefits in, California, which is almost without question the most employee friendly state there is. We were in Massachusetts, which is arguably the second most employee friendly state there is. (NJ may have recently taken over the second place title, but not at the time.)

Anything can happen with unemployment, and if anyone can get you through this it's Commentator, but I can't advise you to hold your breath waiting for an approval.

 

[cobrakai]

Well everyone that replied, thank you much for your help/advice/opinion. I'll appeal when I'm denied and go from there. About all I can do. Can't go into the past and change it all.

 

[commentator]

You're right, ecmst12...I didn't read it closely enough to see this. But I was only picturing the happy grins on their faces when this guy volunteered to quit!

And you know what, cbg, about that lady you were going to fire, I really doubt if they flat out told her she would have been approved if she had been fired instead of quit. (Even in California!) Because after years and years of coaching, that's something one in the u.i. system is never ever supposed to say, even if it is glowlingly obvious (this this poor guy's chances of being approved on the initial decision). And knowing the thorough nature you exhibit to us here, I bet you had progressive discipline and great documentation to terminate her, because that's the way to do it. Anyone who gets fired is actually in jeopardy of not being approved IF the employer does a good job of documentation and it's not a whimsical reason. But you know, there're some people employers just want to get rid of, even for no good reason you can come up with.

I've got to nominate Michigan, at least back before they became the most unemployed state in the nation and their trust fund went bazooie, for really being employee friendly about U.I. too.

I once oversaw a mass lay-off where the non-union company had picked 15 long term employees and given each of them a lack of work lay off to downsize. And after spending a few minutes in the room with these 15 people, I knew exactly why each one of them had been selected!

 

[cbg]

Commentator, I SAW the letter. It wasn't as blatant as that, but there was nonetheless no question that she'd shot herself in the foot by resigning.

We would have appealed, had she been granted benefits.