position not held after pregnancy

[EbonyFriday]

What is the name of your state? helvetica
Florida.
Last July 31st I went on maternity leave 4 weeks early on the written recommendation of my doctors. Previous to that event, I had met with the owners to discuss how long I wanted for maternity leave. I said 6 months. They said they would hire another Plant Manager (my position) and I would assit him/her. I said ok. Five months later when I contacted them a comparable position was not available. Actually, none was offered. One was stated that was available (in an email). A few months later I filed for unemployment. It was not contested at that time. Four months later my previous employers are contesting my unemployment compensation. We have a phone hearing on Oct 24th. What should I do to prepare for this phone hearing? I have contacted the local bar association and I was told that an attorney with an unemployment specialty is not on board at this time. Please advise. Thanks.

 

[Beth3]

The UC process is set up so that an attorney isn't required. The Administrative Law Judges who preside over hearings ensure that all the facts are heard and that the customary legal protocols are observed.

You don't need to do anything special to prepare for the phone hearing. Just relate the facts as you have done so here.

Do you know on what basis your employer is contesting your continuing eligibilty? It seems fair to assume that it's too late for them to contest your initial eligibility when you first filed for benefits. There typically are fairly short time periods to do that. It's somewhere between 10 days and two weeks in my State.

 

[EbonyFriday]

I have no idea. I can see the owner's stretching or altering something that was siad. We did discuss parttime work. However, we never discussed no work.

 

[Beth3]

The ONLY issue being heard by the UC ALJ is whether you are out of work for a reason that would allow benefits. This isn't a hearing to determine whether the company acted wrongfully, whether they guaranteed you a job upon the end of your leave, who was right and who was wrong, etc. Nor do I think you need to imagine the worst case scenario and that your employer will now invent all sorts of things that never happened.

Again, their raising eligibilty issues four months after your initial claim was established leads me to believe that this has nothing to do with your initial eligibilty. Has anyone offered you work that you declined? Did the paperwork you received from the UC office include a statement from the employer as to the basis on which they're challenging continuing eligibility???

 

[cbg]

Legally, the company was only obligated to hold your job for 12 weeks maximum. Unless you had a contract that says otherwise, once 12 weeks had expired they had no further legal obligation to find you any kind of job at all.

However, Beth is correct that the point of the UC hearing is to determine whether you are eligible for benefits, PERIOD. Many people erroneously believe that if UC benefits are granted, that automatically means that the firing was illegal. That is NOT the case and it is NOT the place of the UC board to determine the legality of a termination. That rests with the discrimination board (or in some cases the DOL) of your state. It is not the jurisdiction of the UC board.

 

[EbonyFriday]

I have been looking for work and tracking the companies I have contacted. I have not been offered a position. The paperwork made no mention as to why they were contesting my eligibility at this time.

I didn't file sooner because I didn't think I was eligible. the six months leave was agreen upon with the owners even thoug it was a verbal agreement.

 

[Beth3]

Ebony, you're just going to have to phone in for the hearing to find out what issue the employer is raising and see what happens. Just relate the truthful facts of your situation. That's all you can do. Administrative Law Judges are pretty good at sorting out conflicting facts and determining who is credible.

 

[EbonyFriday]

Thanks for your help. If you can think of anything else I might do to prepare for the hearing please let me know. I was going to list all of the potential questions that I could think of and write down my replies so I would not be at a loss of words during the hearing. Thanks again.

 

[Beth3]

Ebony, the only other thing that occurs to me is that if your former employer is contesting your INITIAL eligibilty, you should challenge the entire proceeding on the basis of the amount of time that has elapsed since you first applied for UC benefits. Chances are though that this is not the issue as the UC Department would likely have rejected the employer's request for a hearing as being untimely.

Unfortunately, I don't have a clue what specifically is at issue so I can't advise you.

 

[EbonyFriday]

The paper work read:
The issue involved in this appeal:
Separation: Whether the claimant was discharged for misconduct connected with work or voluntarily left work without good cause (including cause attributed to the employing unit or illness or disability of the claimant requiring separation); pursuant to Section 443.101(1), (9), (10),(11): SEction 443.036(29), Florida Statutes; and Rule 60BB-3.020, Florida Administrative Code.
Charges to employer's employment record: Whether benefits payments made to the claimant shall be charged to the employment record of the employer; pursuant to Section 443.101(9) and 443.131(3)(a), Florida Statues, and Rule 60BB-2.026 and 3.018, Florida Administrative Code. While the employer may not be chargeable on the current claim, this hearing may determine changeability on a subsequent claim.)
Leave: Whether claimant's unemploymenbt is ude to a leaqve of absence voluntarily initiated by the claimant, pursuant to Section 443.036(28) and 443.101(1)(c), Florida Statutes.