I quit and employer denied unemployment, I appealed, employer didn’t show for phone hearing.

by Debbie

(Albany, Oregon)

After working 13 years at same employer, I quit. The last 2 years new owners had taken over. By signing an agreement with previous owners, new owners couldn’t change anything or fire any employees for 1st year. After 2nd yr. started, things changed. They started cutting hours forcing employees to quit. Refused to pay overtime, changed payroll from 1 x month to bi-weekly, took vacation pay away, which was the only perk we had. Barely able to speak english, the owners (Taiwanese), accused me as well as other employees of stealing money on a regular basis. They did not know how to do books. Owners wife would follow me around asking where her money is in front of customers. The money was always found in a math mistake when the manager did the books. They made us pay shortages out of our own pockets. They put cameras in every room to keep an eye on us. The owner lived 2 hours away, but had 4 monitors at his home to watch every move we made. His mother lived only 2 miles away, she also had 4 monitors to watch us too.

They were miserable to work for. We played charades a lot just to understand what was needed to perform our jobs. The day I left she accused me of stealing $300.00, which when I did books and my manager did the books, we both were over by $300.00. I knew she was wrong, and I had spoke with her and the manager on numerous occasions as to why she keeps doing this, especially in front of customers. She followed me around and just kept harassing me about the money until I couldn’t take it anymore. I looked at her and said “If you want me to leave right now, I will”. She nodded her head, and I left in the middle of a shift.

They denied my claim, I appealed, they did not show up for the phone hearing. It was just the judge and I.

I just had my hearing yesterday. What do you think?
I visited for the first time last nite, and they want me back! Right!
debdebbndebbie

Hi Debbie,

Let’s get one thing straight, it wasn’t the employer that denied unemployment, it was THE STATE of Oregon unemployment department.

I assume you explained all of the above, ie., no more paid vacation, refusal to pay overtime wages, constantly being accused of stealing, etc.

I’d fall off my chair if you wrote back to say they continued to deny your benefits.

But I’d sure love to hear back from you as to why you were denied in the first place.

1. Did you tell the state all this stuff when you applied???

Did the employer submit documents or did they just give a statement to the state that you job abandoned by walking off the job in the middle of a shift?

Because I don’t have knowledge of how this employer operates when it comes to unemployment claims…I’ll just tell you how it works when they have a third party vendor handle their claims.

It is common for employers to miss hearings. The third party vendor will request a postponement for them if they are unable to attend and if the request is denied, the vendor will always request a reopening and will usually be granted that request.

The case will be remanded back to the lower level appeal tribunal and a new hearing will be held. Just like the first had never taken place and the decision from the first hearing will be replaced with the decision from the remand hearing.

There is always the possibility that they just chose not to fight it too, but keep your eye out for any further action from them.

Chris