commentator
Senior Member
Winston, if you are planning on getting up and saying all this stuff, this is fine. If this is all contained in the documents you are giving out, this is not good at all. Remember, they do not call this a reading. They call it a hearing. You cannot go in and submit a letter/document and say this is what I have to say. You cannot go in and read off a document and then give everyone copies of it. You must listen and answer questions, let the hearing officer tell you when you are to speak.
The hearing will follow a set procedure. They will most likely ask you to present your evidence. VERBALLY. Do not hand them a pre-prepared statement. This will work greatly to your disadvantage. After you have spoken, and the other party has spoken, there will be an opportunity for the employer to ask you questions. You will have an opportunity to ask the employer questions. The ajudicator may have questions for you if you do not cover what they want covered if something is not clear to them. You are supposed to listen and respond intelligently.
You cannot merely refer them to your pre-printed statement without really messing up the process, and causing them to feel negative toward you. And however they may try to have an impartial hearing based on the facts, they are human, and if you irritate them it will hurt your case.
You have to be willing to think on your feet. Everything you have said here is fine, but it is not fine when it is written down and pre-packaged and canned and delivered to this judge. Do they let people do this on the witness stand in a court case? See, that's what this is, a hearing where you give ORAL testimony in response to the hearing officer's directions, or questions, or prompting.
I strongly strongly advise you that you want to go in and present your statement verbally. You can say everything that you say in this document, but do not I repeat, do not read off and submit this document instead of talking naturally. Eliminate giving the hearing officer and the other employer a copy of anything except maybe the documents about your first and second period of employment. DO NOT, absolutely do not give them stuff about your first period of drawing unemployment or try to submit anything about that as evidence.
If the agency wanted to verify that you had drawn unemployment, they could do it so easily that you are never supposed to submit evidence that you drew unemployment. You are not supposed to give the employer anything concerning your unemployment insurance that you have ever drawn, as this is confidential. It cannot be submitted into evidence. It is sort of like trying to submit proof in criminal court that you had been in jail, if you see what I mean. I do not think you need to say anything except that you drew unemployment after the first employment period, and that you were not considered a temporary lay off, as you were required to make job searches and did not expect recall.
And please, please, get rid of that definition of misconduct, do not give the hearing officer a definition of misconduct or quote law to them. They know, or feel they know, what the heck misconduct is for the purposes of the hearing. They do not want to hear you define it.
This is not a debate. Go in behaving professionally, look professional, but be pleasant. Listen, follow instructions, do not read to them or lecture them, be sensible, not belligerant. Do not try to follow a script or shove documents at them and then read them the documents. Good luck. let us know how it goes.
The hearing will follow a set procedure. They will most likely ask you to present your evidence. VERBALLY. Do not hand them a pre-prepared statement. This will work greatly to your disadvantage. After you have spoken, and the other party has spoken, there will be an opportunity for the employer to ask you questions. You will have an opportunity to ask the employer questions. The ajudicator may have questions for you if you do not cover what they want covered if something is not clear to them. You are supposed to listen and respond intelligently.
You cannot merely refer them to your pre-printed statement without really messing up the process, and causing them to feel negative toward you. And however they may try to have an impartial hearing based on the facts, they are human, and if you irritate them it will hurt your case.
You have to be willing to think on your feet. Everything you have said here is fine, but it is not fine when it is written down and pre-packaged and canned and delivered to this judge. Do they let people do this on the witness stand in a court case? See, that's what this is, a hearing where you give ORAL testimony in response to the hearing officer's directions, or questions, or prompting.
I strongly strongly advise you that you want to go in and present your statement verbally. You can say everything that you say in this document, but do not I repeat, do not read off and submit this document instead of talking naturally. Eliminate giving the hearing officer and the other employer a copy of anything except maybe the documents about your first and second period of employment. DO NOT, absolutely do not give them stuff about your first period of drawing unemployment or try to submit anything about that as evidence.
If the agency wanted to verify that you had drawn unemployment, they could do it so easily that you are never supposed to submit evidence that you drew unemployment. You are not supposed to give the employer anything concerning your unemployment insurance that you have ever drawn, as this is confidential. It cannot be submitted into evidence. It is sort of like trying to submit proof in criminal court that you had been in jail, if you see what I mean. I do not think you need to say anything except that you drew unemployment after the first employment period, and that you were not considered a temporary lay off, as you were required to make job searches and did not expect recall.
And please, please, get rid of that definition of misconduct, do not give the hearing officer a definition of misconduct or quote law to them. They know, or feel they know, what the heck misconduct is for the purposes of the hearing. They do not want to hear you define it.
This is not a debate. Go in behaving professionally, look professional, but be pleasant. Listen, follow instructions, do not read to them or lecture them, be sensible, not belligerant. Do not try to follow a script or shove documents at them and then read them the documents. Good luck. let us know how it goes.
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