How To Lose A UI Case Without Really Trying

(Published August 2009)

 

Reprinted from PAYROLL LEGAL ALERT, a widely read payroll management newsletter that keeps payroll executives up-to-date on the latest IRS regulations, DOL guidance, and government rulings that affect your payroll administration responsibilities. Click here to get more information, or sign up for a risk-free subscription.

 

State unemployment laws are principally designed to aid employees, not employers. Under most state laws, there are only a few ways employees can be disqualified from receiving benefits — primarily by being fired for work-related misconduct or voluntarily quitting without good cause attributable to the job. The deck, therefore, is stacked against you going in. And regardless of the reason for an employee's termination, certain actions you take can make an unemployment claim even harder to beat than it already is.

 

Wrong move #1 — Failing to define the parameters of the termination. Employees who are let go due to misconduct can still qualify for benefits, because misconduct that results in termination often isn't enough to disqualify them from benefits. You stand a better chance of prevailing if you present contemporaneously written proof of their misconduct — warnings, performance appraisals, and their continued failure to correct the behavior. Warning: Even with taking all the right moves, employers still lose misconduct cases two-thirds of the time.

 

Employees may quit, but they may not see things that way. They may say that they were forced to quit; in other words, they had good cause to quit. These claims usually involve employees' managers. You can dispute a good-cause case by asking employees to undergo exit interviews. Then, corroborate the information they've given you with their colleagues. Added advantage: If it turns out employees were right, you can correct the manager's behavior.

 

Wrong move #2 — Failing to present the best witnesses and evidence. Hearing officers and unemployment review boards give the most respect to firsthand testimony from witnesses with direct, personal knowledge of the events surrounding a termination. Although it may disrupt business operations to have witnesses testify, it's better than losing the case, which is almost certain to happen. Ask yourself this question: What's the bigger burden, having someone else cover for a witness during the hearing, or losing the case and having your account charged? All states allow telephone hearings, which should accommodate testimony from even the busiest witnesses.

 

Wrong move #3 — Missing a protest deadline. In unemployment parlance, former employees go down to their local unemployment office and apply for benefits. You protest their applications. All states have cut-off times for you to protest employees' applications. Miss a deadline and employees will receive benefits, whether or not they're entitled to them. Worse: You also give up your right to dispute charges to your account. If you need more time to gather information and witnesses, make a quick, written general protest that states that you'll provide more information later.

 

Related Topic(s): Benefits/Unemployment Benefits