Fired/Excused/Let Go

I worked for my employer for 8 months total. I was hired to do secretarial work and to transcribe reports. After I was hired, I came to find out the job entailed a lot more than they told me. I was overwhelmed with work. Not only was I responsible for managing the office and typing up the reports, but also finding and correcting mathematical errors that my boss and his son made (I was never told about this before I was hired, I was told it would be my job to make the reports “look pretty”). I was also responsible for maintaining a database that I had very minimal training on (another duty I wasn’t told about when I was hired). I had two different times that I can remember where the boss told me of mistakes I made. On one, the headers were wrong on some of the report and we had to resend the report to the client with the corrected pages. Same thing happened with another report, pages had to be resent. I also had some trouble with setting tabs within the word document. I never received a verbal or written warning or anything like that. Just told that I had to really go over the reports with a fine tooth comb. My boss was nice about it both times. I received a lot of praise for the good job I was doing for the short time I had been there. So, fast forward to December, he hired a new lady. This was someone he had known for a while. He brought me into his office and told me that he had hired her and that she had been who he had originally wanted to hire when he hired me, only she wasn’t available at the time. And he told me that hopefully we would stay busy and he wouldn’t have to “move things around”, (which I took as cutting my hours, just the impression I got). This lady has a paralegal degree and has 12 years office experience, compared to my 2 years. She was hired to work on tuesday and thursday only. After hiring her, my boss became very short with me on a daily basis. Which was a big change from the praise I was receiving prior to her being hired. After about 3 weeks of her being there, he brought me into his office and told me that he had to cut my hours because the office wasn’t maintaining optimum productivity. I was told that he felt he had “thrown me to the wolves” when I was hired with all the work they gave me, and that they wanted me to learn about the company at my own pace. I told him I was doing the very best job I could and he said “I know you are, you are a very hard worker” He also told me numerous times that if this situation didnt work for me, he would understand. I felt like he was asking me to quit. So, I came back to work on monday and first thing, he asked me for my key to the building. Second thing, the other lady walked in the door at 8:30. Suddenly she was working full time. I thought it was strange that he asked for my key and figured he was going to fire me or something. I came in the next day and told that things just werent working out and that a report that had been sent out over the weekend had a mistake on it and that was the last straw and he had to let me go. I left, and then emailed him later and asked him to send me my stuff, I had been too upset to take it with me when I left. I told him I would rather not come back and get it because I was uncomfortable after being fired. He said, and I quote, “Dont look at it as getting fired, the job duties and you didn’t mesh and you were excused.” Then I asked him what to use on my unemployment application because I had no idea since I thought I had been fired. Was it lack of work? He said to just tell the truth. And I said I would if I knew the truth. I told him there wasn’t an option for “excused”. He asked me what the options were. I told him. Then he deleted his mail where he asked me “what are the options?” and replied with the following: “We made the decision of letting you go because you were not performing the tasks required for this office to obtain and maintain optimum production. You can call it excused, or you can call it fired. However, you were let go/excused/fired due to your inadequate performance and lacking the ability to learn from your recurring mistakes. For unemployment matters, the fitting description is fired.” I am stunned. I believe I was wrongfully terminated because of the other lady becoming available, but I know that is a whole other issue. And I am aware of “at will employment” but my question is, does he have grounds to fight my right to benefits? I never received any warnings, no write ups or anything. I honestly thought I was doing a good job. I printed out the emails in case I would need them for a hearing. I know this has been long winded, but I wanted to provide all the info for you in one post. Thank you in advance.

Hi,

I’m going to let this one through .. even without the name of the state because in any state, the employer has grounds to fight your unemployment because they are the employer.

Whether the grounds are soggy or solid is another matter.

While I was reading your story .. I just kept thinking to my self .. “the employer case for misconduct sucks .. no written warnings .. not fully disclosing the requirements of the job that required skills you didn’t possess etc., etc., then you threw this at me.

“I told him there wasn’t an option for “excused”. He asked me what the options were. I told him. Then he deleted his mail where he asked me “what are the options?” and replied with the following: “We made the decision of letting you go because you were not performing the tasks required for this office to obtain and maintain optimum production. You can call it excused, or you can call it fired. However, you were let go/excused/fired due to your inadequate performance and lacking the ability to learn from your recurring mistakes. For unemployment matters, the fitting description is fired.”

That sounds like an employer setting up for a protest .. so, I’m glad you saved the emails.

Keep these words in mind .. I was doing the job to the best of my ability.

When the employer let me go he stated, “Don’t look at it as getting fired, the job duties and you didn’t mesh and you were excused.”

And remember and consider that to me .. it sounds like that email which is claiming poor performance as the cause of your discharge also includes these words, “lacking the ability to learn from your recurring mistakes.

None of this is what I would call an optimal choice of words to support a discharge for misconduct.

Instead, I would call it a half-assed attempt to create possibilities that might make you look like you were guilty of misconduct as defined.