Former Employer UIB Appeal

[maximxul]

What is the name of your state: MARYLAND

I was terminated from a position in Nov. 2009. This position was an at-will position for both employer/employee. Nevertheless, the reason on my termination letter states:

"unsatisfactory or careless work; failure to meet standards as explained to you by your manager, mistakes due to carelessness or failure to get necessary instructions."

Now, I'm going to take the high road and not argue against this, because there is no point. What's done is done.

Anyways, I've been receiving Unemployment since my termination. The original claim was contested by my ex-employer, but I was granted the benefits. Yesterday I received a letter for an Unemployment Insurance Appeals Hearing" scheduled for 2 1/2 weeks from today.

The issues are: Whether the claimant's separation from this employment was for a disqualifying reason within the meaning of the MD Code Annotated Labor and Employment Article, Title 8, Sections 8-1001 (voluntary quit for good cause), 8-1001-1002.1 (gross/aggravated misconduct connected with the work) or 8-1003 (misconduct connected with the work).

Any reason that my alleged unsatisfactory performance could be classified as MISCONDUCT? and therefore disqualify me for benefits??What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[commentator]

Yeah, they've filed an appeal. They were told they had a right to do so. If you had been denied, you'd have been given the same option.
You will need to go to your hearing, or get on the phone, if it is a phone hearing, and allow them to produce records showing that you did have poor performance that was bad enough they had grounds to terminate you. Then you will be able to present your case that it was not a deserved firing, that you did your best, and that they terminated you anyway.

Now, memorize this phrase, "I did the job to the best of my abilities." I showed up, I did my best, and due to...yada yada yada, my best was not good enough for them. Stick to facts. Did you receive warnings, did you have an opportunity to change your behavior to keep your job? Or were you fired suddenly, after having successfully performed your job (at least you thought you were successful) after so long a time. You'll need to present your argument, because if you chose to ignore this hearing, your former employer can very well show up and show that your poor performance was misconduct and get your benefits stopped.

For most unemployment purposes, misconduct is behavior that you had control over. In other words, being slow or un-talented or not being able to spin straw into gold isn't considered misconduct, as long as you showed up and gave it the good ole try. If you deliberately screwed up, or messed up due to goofing off on the job, or decided to sabotage their operation, that is misconduct. If you deliberately and knowingly violated a company policy, that's misconduct. If you did something so bad that you should have known it was wrong, even without warnings, such as punch out your supervisor or steal the product off the line, that's GROSS misconduct.

Then you would be overpaid for any benefits that you have already drawn out, too. So go to the hearing, defend your performance issues, stay on issue, do not start slinging mud about other aspects of the way this business was run, and win your second decision. you won the first decision, which got your benefits started, now you must keep them coming by providing that your employer did not, in fact, have a good misconduct reason for terminating you, that you were doing your best and got fired anyway.