fired for misconduct

I’m waiting for my phone interview next week, but am very nervous that since the word “insubordination” was on my termination paperwork, that I won’t qualify. My sister was the manager at the vet hospital I worked at and I was off work, but got into a heated argument with her on the phone while she was at work about how much the Dr had charged me to euthanize my dog. She made a lot of statements about “can’t believe you’re talking to your own sister this way” and I replied “I don’t want you to be my f’king sister, I want you to be my boss.” In the 3 years I’ve worked there, I had 2 written warnings about getting along with co workers, but never any write ups about interacting with my boss (my sister). I know there was a lot of emotion involved and the gray area of relatives working together doesn’t help. Do you think I stand a chance of getting unemployment?

Misconduct is work related .. in others word doing something in the performance of your job .. not while having a conversation with your sister who is your boss at work only. It’s the final incident any state unemployment dept. will be most interested in.

This is why most larger companies will not allow people that are related to work together. Way too many problems when one is in charge of another.

If you were not at work at the time of the incident and you were complaining about what you were charged by the doctor .. I would say your sister fired you for the attitude displayed as a paying customer .. and as her sister.

You can take this for what it’s worth and of course prepare for this to be the final straw for your previously documented attitude with other co-workers.

Hi, I was fired due to my drawer being out of balance 320.00. Policy states that I have up to 250.01 in a 12 month rolling period, before the word termination can come into play. It also states that I could be terminated, suspended, or monitored. The employer terminated me. I was a top employee with many awards and my sales goals were always exceeded. My manager even tryed to write a letter to corporate, of what a high asset I was to her. I have never been written up for a drawer being out of balance and unable to locate. If I was ever out of balance it fell below the 250.01 limit, and the write up would fall off my records after 30 days. Can I qualify for unemployment in the state of california. I feel that I did not hand out to much cash or do a transaction that involved cash wrong. I just cant locate were this dollar amount went in my system. I just can’t prove this to my employers. I am also a union employee. Can my union help me with unemployement? Please help!

Hi,

If you are a member of a union, then yes, they should be able to help you. Generally, a union contract also has a well defined grievance procedure in place too.

And remember, it is the employer who must prove willful and intentional misconduct to the unemployment department.

I was discharged for having four “preventable accidents” in four years.I don’t agree that they were “preventable” because they were accidents. Three of the accidents were minor (scraped mirror). The fourth accident occurred when i was on a driving a group on a field trip. I was in unfamiliar territory , driving a bus that had different side-view mirrors than the bus I normally drive. When I arrived at my destination I drove into a parking garage and nicked the entrance wall. I filed for ca. unemployment and have a telephone interview scheduled.
At the interview I will be asked if I was ever warned that my actions could result in me being fired. Yes I was , but this was an accident. I was never warned specifically about having an accident would result in being discharged.

Hi Neil,

Yes, they will ask if you had been warned about “accidents”. They will also ask you if any of the warnings made you aware that another accident would result in termination.

Most unemployment departments require that for good cause to be found, that the employee be made aware that their job is in jeopardy. They can do this either through the employee handbook or if the misconduct is subject to “progressive discipline policy” I personally, would be looking for the required amount of warning about “accidents” I would not be happy if the warnings were a mix of individual policy violations .. such as absenteeism and accidents.

So take a look at the handbook and see if there is something in there to point at for the state to see that the employer erred when applying their own rules.

Next, onto whether an accident can be misconduct. It can. Especially, when one is a “professional driver” with a special license.

If you find that the employer has followed their rules to a tee the argument would be based on the fact that it was an “inadvertent error made in good faith” and you did provide the reason as to why the nick occurred.

Did you happen to read what California has to say about being discharged for accidents? If not, here it is.

okay i went to the hearing today and im kinda tryin to figure out if was good or bad but leaning towards good.they brung the h.r supervisor and my immediate boss that was there that day.first there only evidence was testimony.and when the h.r supervisor tried to show him the signatures of the documents the judge said it wasnt necesssary and dismissed it.dont know if that was good or bad.the judge asked my manager if i had been warned previously and at first he said yes and then changed it to no that i had never been warned.the judge then got into the job description part. the judge asked my manager what was my job title and he said forklift operator and q.c (quality control).the judge asked me if that was correct and i said no my primary job duties are forklift operator.the judge asked him what are my normal duties and he said forklift operator. then my manager stated that the q.c position no longer existed.dont know if that was good or bad. then my manager lied sayin that the other guy only loaded one pallet.the judge asked me if that was correcti said no the trucks hold 24-26 pallets and i only loaded 18 pallets so that left 6-8 pallets. but the judge only focused on the temperature.but i expressed to the judge that this was a isolated incident and out of my job description and wasnt fully trained.well see if i win very stressed out.but thanks for the advice.

Be sure to let me know about the decision ..

Chris

i dont know what the policy is for that job duty because that was not my normal job duties.the reason they asked us to help them wit loading the trucks is because of lay-offs.but i never signed anything about that specific job duty where as everytime you are trained on something you had to sign and initial that you knew you could be fired if job was not done correctly.and i was never properly trained for that position.and i just thought i made a simple mistake by listening to this other worker who held the position that got me fired.that was his position for 8 years so i didnt think anything to second guess this guy.

Then that’s what you need to say at the hearing .. that it wasn’t your regular job .. you weren’t experienced in all the duties of the job and that you thought you had checked the temps right.

You had never been warned before about anything nor informed that your job was in jeopardy.

Additionally, if the employer has a progressive discipline policy that states you should be warned first .. bring it to the hearing with you.

NO I NEVER HAD ANY WARNINGS,WRITE-UPS,ETC… I WORKED THERE FOR A 1 1/2 YEARS AND NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS WIT PERFORMANCE OR THIS TYPE OF PROBLEM.THINGS JUS STARTED TO GET UGLY WITH ME AND MY MANAGEMENT BECAUSE I ASKED WHY I DIDNT RECEIVE A RAISE THAT ALL THE OTHER QUALIFYING EMPLOYEES RECEIVED.I ASKED THE H.R MANAGER ABOUT THE RAISE AND I GUESS HE SAID TO MANAGEMENT THAT I WAS COMPLAINING AND THAT WAS 2 WEEKS BEFORE THEY FIRED ME.I KNEW I WAS BEING SET UP BECAUSE THE H.R MANAGER KEPT TRYIN TO SET UP A MEETING WIT ME ABOUT MY CONCERNS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHIFT WHEN EVERYBODY WOULD BE LOOKING FOR ME.I WAS TRYIN TO BE DISCREET ABOUT MY CONCERNS.DUE TO ME BEING THE BAD EMPLOYEE THAT COMPLAINS ACCORDING TO MY IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR I WAS TOLD NOT TO LOAD THE TRUCKS BUT TO JUST PULL ORDERS AND THEN THIS DAY THEY HAVE ME FINISH A COMPLICATED TRUCK AND THEN FIRED PLEASE HELP HEARING IS TOMORROW

Hi,

Policy. What the policy or the rule that applies to what you did.

Verbatim please.