( NC, United States)
Can I get unemployment if fired from a job for failure to attend a work meeting and if i never filed any W2 forms or any paperwork period with my employer?
I was recently fired from a restaurant at which I have been a waitress for the past 2.5 years. The restaurant at which I worked is family owned and three of the employees are family members. During my employment there, I did not fill out any W2 forms. I and the other waitresses all got paid 2.50 an hour under the table, plus tips.
I was fired for failing to attend a meeting. This is the only meeting we have ever had in the 2.5 + years that I have worked there.
This meeting, was on a friday night at 9pm. the afternoon before (thursday afternoon, one of the owner’s daughters texted me to inform me of the meeting.
I was not sure if I was supposed to work friday night, due to their lack of scheduling, so I texted her to ask if i was working. She never responded, so I assumed I wasn’t working.
I was upset that they had given us so little notice and wanted to go out of town for the weekend. I texted the same woman friday afternoon to tell her that I could not make it to the meeting. She sent me a text back saying “no meeting no job”, to which I replied something along the lines of “it makes no sense for you to fire me for being unable to attend a meeting that you gave me a day’s notice for.”
She asked me why I couldn’t make it, and then before I could answer she said “whatever, don’t worry about it. have a great night.”
The following monday I went in to give my 2 weeks notice (I have had issues with the manipulative way these people run their business for a while now and was planning on quitting for a few weeks).
When I went in to talk to my manager (the first woman’s sister) about giving my 2 weeks notice, she informed me that I was already fired anyway.
I asked why and they mentioned my failure to attend the meeting, failure to vacuum one night the previous week (I used a mini vacuum swiffer instead because we made 8 dollars that night and were extremely slow, resulting in a floor unworthy of somewhat more labor intensive vaccuuming), and failure to refrain from using my cell phone at work (i was reprimanded for this a few times and started to ask their permission, which they usually gave when i asked; also, the family that worked there were constantly on their own cellphones). They listed a few other small actiins that I was previously reprimanded for and ceased doing, such as doing a crossword puzzle during slow times, studying school notes during slow times, and failing to give them my school schedule for this spring semester in a timely fashion (I gave it to them a week in advance).
I am wondering if I can still get unemployment 1) if there is no tax record of me ever working there and 2) for being fired for the reasons I just listed.
Hi,
I’m so glad you mentioned the fact that there is no tax record of you ever working there .. because an employer reporting wages paid to you is the first thing any unemployment claim first considers .. to make sure you “monetarily qualify”.
And it is also now the first hump you will have to get over .. not to mention .. this is not a good situation for the employer to be in .. because states rely on employers to pay unemployment tax on wages to fund their unemployment benefit payments.
Unemployment is like an onion .. the more you know about any given situation .. the more there is to consider.
I am not even going to go into whether the employer could sustain a misconduct discharge as with good cause or not.
Right now, I’m wondering if you ever paid taxes on the money you received per hour .. or your tips as a way to prove that you even worked for this employer?
Clearly, through the actions of reprimanding and firing you for failure to attend a meeting .. (by the way focus on the final occurrence) they considered you an employee .. bad on them for not paying the appropriate taxes on the wages you earned because if you do pursue this .. I see a tax audit in their future .. and possibly yours if you didn’t pay your own taxes on tips and wages.