Wrongful termination? Unemplyment eligibilty? (long)

[Hyle]

What is the name of your state? Texas

I am attempting to discover is I have been wrongfully terminated and/or if I am eligible for unemployment benefits.

Here's the skinny I was employed by a construction company to do clerical work involving alot of typing, printing and sorting. Today, I was browsing the internet while sorting some work related documents. Due to people often standing outside my door talking/joking/interacting and that my taste in music can be loud (hard rock) I often shut or crack the door. Apparently this act is greeted with some suspicion that I am up to no good. Today, I was in the process of sorting some work-related material tickets and was on the internet looking at non-work related and listening to my music when one of the higher ups in the company pokes his head in and sees this. I look up from my work and say "Yes sir?" and he leaves about as qucikly as he arrived. Later after lunch he returned and asked to speak with me. I told him yes, stopped the work I was doing, and listened to him say the following (accurate to my recollection):
"I think it's time we part company; what I mean to say is you're fired. If yo would collect all your personal items and leave as soon as possible"

He gave no exact reason for the termination. I suppose it was for the incident aforementioned. I have attained a copy of the companies "Company Work Rules" which is a document we had to read and then sign and tried to reference this incident and found nothing exact. The closest thing I could find is "Personal work on company time." which is a 3 strikes offence. First strike is a written reprimand, second offence gets you 2 days of disciplinary lay off, and finally dismissal. Prior to this I have had one verbal warning in regards to dozing off (a two strike offence requiring a written reprimand and then dismissal) and have received no other reprimands or warnings or any nature. My hope is to determine if I have been wrongfully terminated adn if I am elgible to collect unemployment.

Thanks for your time and any responses

 

[cbg]

No, this is not a wrongful termination; in fact, this isn't even in the same ballpark as a wrongful termination. To qualify as a wrongful term, there must be a specific law that prohibits the employer from terming you for the reason they used. I assure you that no law prohibits them from firing you for blasting them out of their seats with loud music or surfing the net while you're supposed to be at work. Nor does any law say that an employer must even HAVE an employee handbook, let alone that each and every reason for which you can be fired must be listed in it. If whoever wrote your company handbook has three working brain cells, they included somewhere in it a clause that says the employer can change or modify their policies anytime they please.

Whether you can collect UI will be up to the state and whether or not your employer is interested in contesting on the basis of misconduct. You have nothing to lose by applying; I'm not even going to guess whether you'll qualify or not.