by Mahrie
(Lubbock,TX)
I worked a week of 60 hours. Which was normal for the amount of voluntary overtime I took. During some of those 13 hour days I would forget to clock out for lunch, or the time keeping system would error out and I would have to hand in a manual correction. Either way, required the signing of a form stating when we clocked in and out, and the reason why our punch was not recorded. Any given day, any supervisor had stacks of these forms on their desk because it was a bad program that crashed frequently and had problems. There were a few nights getting off at midnight that I would punch out, and it would log out afterwards like it was supposed to. Coming back into work the next day to find, I had been already working that day for 16 or so hours. So I would hand in my correction to my supervisor. This happened 2 or so times that week.
Then I come into work and find my building access cards are disabled and I have to see the big boss to find out why. In which he handed me my notice of termination for timecard fraud. He said I willfully kept myself clocked in while not in the building. I explained to him I turned in my sheets explaining the errors, and I would like them produced on the spot and or to have my supervisor there. He said I couldn’t speak to my supervisor, and just kept insisting that those time correction sheets were not part of the issue this was in addition to them. In the end he claimed I had racked up 36 hours of time I couldn’t be accounted for which if produced would equal out to the time sheets I turned in. I called the corporate HR of this company and told them I believed I was wrongly terminated and they took my information and told me an unbiased employee relation person from my area would contact me. Well the “unbiased” representative was the man that fired me. So of course he wasn’t going to listen to me and told me i needed to drop the issue.
I have filed for unemployment, and they are doing their investigation, they have taken my employers response, and my rebuttal to them.
They asked me these questions as well
1. Had I been written up ever? Yes, for hanging up a dead phone call instead of waiting for it to end itself. 4 days out of training. (call center)
2. Had I been warned about the offense I was terminated for? no.
3. Have other people had these same difficulties with the time system? as stated above, yes.
Do you think I will be denied or have reason to appeal if I am?
Hi Mahrie,
I am a little more familiar with Texas unemployment than some other states and THEY ARE TOUGH. It has one of the lowest (if not the lowest) recipiency rates in the country. Last time I checked it was 18 percent.
It can go either way for you Mahrie. In my experience the initial determination usually, but not always, depends on the information and/or documents the employer provides at this level.
Even if they allow unemployment benefits, this is a case the employer WILL appeal and you will need to PREPARE for the hearing.
If they deny your claim, definitely appeal! At this point you would have nothing to lose.
When you get the hearing notice, it will include everything that has been submitted to date from the employer and yourself, but either side is free to submit (prior to the hearing date) more documents that serves the purpose of proving or sustaining their assertions.
In either case start thinking about ways to “prove” your assertion that you were fired due to a faulty and inaccurate time keeping system.
I’ll bet if you look at your employee handbook, time fraud is one of those rule violations that call for immediate termination, but to not be made aware of an investigation into the matter is odd.
If the handbook says progressive discipline should be applied to Time Fraud, they ruined their own case by not following their own policy.
Keep us informed and don’t be shy about using me as a sounding board.
Good Luck,
Chris