Help... Did i screw up my phone interview

[rolexguy]

(State) = CA

Well I am a bit worried, confused, puzzled, you name it im it. I was recently fired from my previous employer at which I was employed for 6 mos. This was a sales job to clarify. Here is just a little info to clear it up a bit. This is what I am confused on. The manager would always walks around saying "in order to be successful there you have to produce 10 new accounts and 10,000 in sales self generated from those accounts." This is not in any employee handbook or a strict policy. If you accomplish this criteria you will be eligible to receive freebies the next month and ONLY THOSE whose acheive this so called quota will receive the freebies. To round this long story up I got pulled into the office 9/28 right before work started and was handed my final check "stating from my manager it just wasnt going to workout." When I asked what wasnt working out he mentioned again its just not working out and heres your final check. At this point I brought it to his attention what I had just discovered on my previous work day. He was giving out free deals or freebies to another employee on which he was comparing me to. This employee was not eligible to receive those freebies since he did not acheive the 10 x 10 the previous month. I told my old boss, " I cant compete against someone who is getting freebies and is not eligible for them." I filed for my EDD claim that same day and received my paperwork from EDD stating my claim was approved and the amount I would be receiving. The following day I received a letter with a phone interview date which was 10/26. I went through my phone interview and all seemed good. He asked if I was ever warned, written up, alert, aware, late to lead to this. I replied no this was a very big surprise for me and totally off guard. I was never pulled aside or given direct notice I was in jeopardy of losing my job. This was just out of the blue without notice or paper trail. The only thing I did tell the phone interviewer was how my previous would walk around and state you need your 10 and 10 out loud but not directly. Did this screw up my EDD eligibility? If so there was nothing in writing that I signed stating that was mandatory. If it was the reason why I got fired WAS I SINGLED OUT? There was only 1 salesperson who acheived that quota the month before and nobody else got fired? Is this a good arguement? Is this a wrongful termination issue or just a good EDD case? I also just received a form for my COBRA benefits which states from my previous employer that this was a involuntary termination. The final words from the interviewer was you will get a letter in the mail with the final outcome we are still going to contact your previous employer?

Thank you eagerly waiting

So sorry for the grammar and punctuation. I am typing this out from my phone.

[ecmst12]

If you told the truth and answered all the questions then you did fine and all you can do is wait for your determination.

[rolexguy]

Originally Posted by ecmst12

If you told the truth and answered all the questions then you did fine and all you can do is wait for your determination.

Would this qualify for wrongful termination?
How good are my chances or getting my claim approved?
I did not sugar coat anything, but from I am fearing is I should have left out is him walking around and stating you need 10x10?
Would this apply directly to me even if it was not enforced across the board?

[ecmst12]

Your termination was legal (i.e. not wrongful).

[commentator]

First of all, calm down.

Continue to certify for each week that passes as you were instructed to do in order to receive checks. They are always going to check with your former employer. You told the truth, you described the situation.

You were discharged for no fault of your own. You may have been discharged for performance issues, in other words, for not meeting that 10x10 goal or something. But as long as you were showing up for work and doing your best, that is not misconduct. You will not be denied benefits because you do not meet a performance standard if you did your best to meet it and couldn't. They will ask or probably did if you did your job to the best of your ability. That's what matters. The only way the employer could keep you from receiving benefits is if he shows that he has a good misconduct reason to terminate you. Performance issues do not rise to the level of misconduct unless you were deliberately screwing up and he can prove that.

If you did nothing wrong, yet your employer lets you go, there's still no wrongful termination issue going here, it's just that he is the employer, and he chose to let you go. You can't please everybody.

If you had no warnings, no write ups, the termination came as a complete surprise to you, so you had no opportunity to correct your behavior (if you were doing something wrong) then there was no way you could have controlled the outcome of this situation.

I really do not think you screwed up your interview. You would get more than one chance, anyhow. If he tells them something you have not brought up, for example that he caught you stealing tools or something, they would call you back and ask you about it again before making the initial decision anyway.

Once the initial decision to approve or deny benefits is made, you will receive a letter telling you about the decision. If you are approved, you should be paid for any weeks you have certified for. If you are denied, you can file an appeal and have a hearing where you and the employer will both be present to give evidence about your reason for termination. If you are approved and he wants to, the employer can ask for the same type of appeal and you will have the same type of hearing.

But given the general practices of unemployment, it sounds from your squirrelly and convoluted post as though you did fine, you gave the ajudicator plenty of information, and you will be hearing from your decision pretty soon. Keep certifying, quit worrying.

[rolexguy]

Originally Posted by commentator

First of all, calm down.

Continue to certify for each week that passes as you were instructed to do in order to receive checks. They are always going to check with your former employer. You told the truth, you described the situation.

You were discharged for no fault of your own. You may have been discharged for performance issues, in other words, for not meeting that 10x10 goal or something. But as long as you were showing up for work and doing your best, that is not misconduct. You will not be denied benefits because you do not meet a performance standard if you did your best to meet it and couldn't. They will ask or probably did if you did your job to the best of your ability. That's what matters. The only way the employer could keep you from receiving benefits is if he shows that he has a good misconduct reason to terminate you. Performance issues do not rise to the level of misconduct unless you were deliberately screwing up and he can prove that.

If you did nothing wrong, yet your employer lets you go, there's still no wrongful termination issue going here, it's just that he is the employer, and he chose to let you go. You can't please everybody.

If you had no warnings, no write ups, the termination came as a complete surprise to you, so you had no opportunity to correct your behavior (if you were doing something wrong) then there was no way you could have controlled the outcome of this situation.

I really do not think you screwed up your interview. You would get more than one chance, anyhow. If he tells them something you have not brought up, for example that he caught you stealing tools or something, they would call you back and ask you about it again before making the initial decision anyway.

Once the initial decision to approve or deny benefits is made, you will receive a letter telling you about the decision. If you are approved, you should be paid for any weeks you have certified for. If you are denied, you can file an appeal and have a hearing where you and the employer will both be present to give evidence about your reason for termination. If you are approved and he wants to, the employer can ask for the same type of appeal and you will have the same type of hearing.

But given the general practices of unemployment, it sounds from your squirrelly and convoluted post as though you did fine, you gave the ajudicator plenty of information, and you will be hearing from your decision pretty soon. Keep certifying, quit worrying.

Thank You
You have put my poor mind at somewhat of ease.

[Hot Topic]

Please be advised that Californians who file an appeal are forced to wait so long for the "wheels to begin rolling" that it has put many people in a situation one newscaster called "worse than unemployment." This has been attributed to the backup caused by state mandated furloughs in the offices that handle employment/unemployment in the state.

[pattytx]

Originally Posted by Hot Topic

Please be advised that Californians who file an appeal are forced to wait so long for the "wheels to begin rolling" that it has put many people in a situation one newscaster called "worse than unemployment." This has been attributed to the backup caused by state mandated furloughs in the offices that handle employment/unemployment in the state.

Glad I was transferred from California to Texas when I was (1993). Although I do miss the weather, I'd definitely hate to be living there now. And believe me, I can understand the "worse than unemployment" comment. I had to go through an appeal last spring/summer and not only were my benefits cut off, they wanted the money back (I got around that).

[commentator]

Very true about being so far behind the eight ball on getting benefits paid. But the problem with this -- and this is not just California, it's many many states right now -- is that with the quadrupled and beyond work load, the furloughed employees and unreplaced retirements, this thing about slow service is really awful. Horror stories abound.

And since they are under federal mandate to pay people or tell them something within a certain number of weeks, in many cases, people are just being approved across the board, even those who are really not eligible, without the employers being contacted. Then months later, when the employer discovers this person is receiving benefits, there is an appeal, and the claim is stopped, and the person is overpaid and they demand the money back! It is slightly better than going to a payday loan place, but not much.

The best thing to do is that if you do not get a response from the system within say...two weeks, you begin emailing, trailing, calling, even call the commissioner in your state, because those who complain do eventually get tracked down and worked, while the patient sometimes languish for months.

But think about it. You have a job, you have a work load. You probably have quite enough to do to keep busy with what you are doing. Then suddenly, over about a three month period, an avalanche of new work begins to overflow your offices. In some cases, the work has increased twelvefold from early 2008 levels. There is absolutely no new staffing to meet this increase. Those who can run, retire, or go elsewhere. Those who are left just struggle with it. There are lay offs, cut backs and furloughs. The system is simply overwhelmed. This is where the stimulus money needs to go, because our states' social services networks are sinking. It is a wonder to me that as many people get worked appropriately as do. I worked with quality issues. That is not even a factor now.

Incidentally, patty, New Jersey also charges the employee a fraction of their unemployment taxes too. There's one more, but I don't know what state it is. See, I learn new things every day!

[pattytx]

Commentator, it's Alaska. Alabama did at one time, but that was many years ago.

[rolexguy]

Well im back and just got off the phone with EDD. My 1st and only claim form mailed in was on 10/18. I have not received any other forms in the mail and requested another via the email link. I have not received a response, email, or mail with another claim form. I decided to call today and spoke to a rep and she responded that the reason I have not received a claim form is because I just had my phone interview and there is still no outcome. She refused to send me another claim form. If I dont continue to send in these claim forms while in limbo I will not receive pay for those weeks correct? She advised me to call back 11/6 incase I still dont hear anything to find out outcome.
What can or should I do? Can someone email me a form?

[commentator]

Hi, get your calendar out. You're not behind yet. Weeks for unemployment run from Sunday to Saturday. So if you have just got to be certified for the week ending 10/24/09 you're not behind yet. The next time you would be certifying would be about next week for this week. (10/26-through-11/01) Most states have a telephone and internet certification process, but CA has mail ins. Check out your state's web site.

What the person you spoke to was saying was that the initial decision has not yet been made. As far as the claim form, if the only week you have certified for is the week ending 10/17, you are only needing to do last week. Some states CA is one, do two weeks at a time, in which case you should wait until two weeks have passed to send in the certification, which would be 11/06 (which is what she was saying) But don't panic, as I said, you're not behind yet, you're just needing to certify for last week. And that may come to you in the mail before 11/06. You should receive something along with your decision, is my guess.

It is very important that you personally keep up with the weeks. Get a calendar and begin marking them off from the date you filed your claim. That would be the first week you could certify for, whether you filed on Monday Tuesday or Friday. I suggest that you go to the state website and read the instruction book for claimants, especially about the weekly certifications. And what the person said was valid, if you haven't gotten a decision by 11/06, I'd be calling them again, just to check.

[rolexguy]

my original claim form was from was from 10/4-10/17 and mail in date of 10/18. This would leave me with a new claim form (which i dont have) of 10/18-10/31 and mail in date of 11/1. I finally talked to a rep again a few minutes ago. The rep said they can not issue me a form until the decision was made. The rep also assured me that if my claim was approved I would get back pay. This is the confusing part everywhere I read it says different. This EDD scenario is so fustrating.

[commentator]

You're doing fine. Just keep up with your own weeks, make sure you do not miss certifying for any in the long run. In other words, keep up with your own stuff, make sure you meet the deadlines, be your own representative.

There have been some new people hired by unemployment offices all over the place using stimulus money, some of them do not clearly explain things, do not really understand things themselves. Sometimes you have to talk to more than one person, call more than once. Be sure you make notes of what you are told each time. But it's not really impossible to understand. It's pretty cut and dried, actually. Remember, it is in no way based on a whim or the way the people in the unemployment office feel about you. (I actually saw this on somebody's web site the other day, how you could win your appeal by "selling yourself" to the appeals referee, like a job interview.) While a certain amount of human interaction is always going to be based on personal perception, they don't have much leeway. They do not automatically believe you, nor do they automatically believe the word of your employer. They'll be looking at working this case according to the unemployment laws. Just the facts.

[BalloonGirl]

Originally Posted by rolexguy

my original claim form was from was from 10/4-10/17 and mail in date of 10/18. This would leave me with a new claim form (which i dont have) of 10/18-10/31 and mail in date of 11/1. I finally talked to a rep again a few minutes ago. The rep said they can not issue me a form until the decision was made. The rep also assured me that if my claim was approved I would get back pay. This is the confusing part everywhere I read it says different. This EDD scenario is so fustrating.

Did you document the name of the individual you spoke to?

Is it possible to print the claim forms off of the web, or go into your local unemployment office?

I work for UI, but not in CA (over 15 years of service in UI at this point). My advice to you would be to walk into a local office Monday morning and request a claim form. Give them the name of the individual you spoke to, and ask for clarification.

It is your responsibility to claim each and every week in a TIMELY manner (typically during the calendar week after the Saturday week ending date of the week you are claiming).

And FYI - it is up to your employer (assuming the discharge / misconduct laws in CA are similar to the state I work for - and most are) to prove you were fired for misconduct. Take a deep breath, count to 3, and wait. If your claim is, for whatever reason, denied, you have appeal rights. The 1st level decision is not final.

And yes, if your employer says something different than you say, they should call you to take an additional statement.