Firing- UI question

What is the name of your state?
Texas

I was recently fired. The reasons given were either true or beyond my control, such as being on vacation during one event/cause of the future events that happened two days after my return (Make sense?).

I have two questions:
1) If my company denies me UI, is it normally a long process to prove that I was not responsible for the cause of the events that led up to me being fired?

2) My employer is giving me severence pay, I was told that this was normally enough to force them to approve UI. Is this true?

Thanks,
CollegeBound
(Guess I'll go get my degree during this terrible market)

1.) Your company does not have the power to either grant you or deny you benefits. They can only choose whether or not to contest benefits. The state, and only the state, can deny benefits (or grant them, for that matter).

That being said, the answer to your question is, no one can tell. It depends on the exact circumstances, how far the company wishes to take the appeal or any benefits granted, and how the specifics of your firing relate to your specific state law.

2.) No. The only way severance factors into your unemployment, is that in some circumstances and in some states, severance can delay the approval of your benefits (i.e. you may not be able to collect benefits until the severance expires.

Again, your company does NOT decide whether or not you get benefits. The state does. The state MAY decide that if they were willing to grant severance, they can't have been too upset with whatever it was that you did. But the fact that you received severance is NOT a guarantee that benefits will automatically be granted.

And additionally:

1) If my company denies me UI, is it normally a long process to prove that I was not responsible for the cause of the events that led up to me being fired? You don't have to prove that you weren't responsible. Your employer has to prove that you were AND that your actions meet the definition of willful/gross misconduct in your State's UC reg's. You're free to present any evidence that you weren't responsible however.

2) My employer is giving me severence pay, I was told that this was normally enough to force them to approve UI. Is this true? Whoever told you that is totally clueless and you should never take any kind of legal advice from them again (and probably not any other type of advice either.)