I was denied unemployment benefits because my employer told them I did not follow proper procedures when I gave notice to leave my employment.

by Sandie

(Tennessee)

I worked for this company for three years. My first year was at a different location as a leasing consultant. I was promoted to assistant manager at another property same company within a year. I dealt with the same problem that i left my job for from the very beginning. The manager was retiring and really had always relied on the assistant to do the job. Which I did.

My problem was being in property management and the residents not being cared for in a timely manner. This being work orders not being taken care of. Maintainence issues and vendors not doing their jobs.

I immediately went to the manager and area manger and called the district manager. I also was told by the maintainence district manager he would be there for any problems that would arise. He already knew that things did not get taken care of. There were reports to show this.

I worked through this struggling with the issues because I loved my job. The last straw was the week I gave notice this past june of 09.

Maintainence was not doing all the work orders and when they did they were not done in a timely manner. The cleaning of the apartments was an issue. The vendor had several complaints from myself and the manager.

There was a move in and I went to make sure the apartment was move in ready. The cleaners had been gone a couple of hours and the manager had not walked or inspected the apartment. The apartment was nasty, not cleaned. The new residents were on their way.

I had to leave the office and start cleaning. I had been cleaning for at least 3 hours. Almost finished. The cleaning person that had supposedly cleaned came back after she was called back. She asked me what I wanted her to clean. I told her she needed to call her supervisor. I was almost finished and did not need her there. My supervisor later came to the apartment and was slamming doors and not speaking to me and I told her we needed to talk about the situation. She said we would talk about it later. It was obvious she was mad.

The following day she and the area manager ignored me and the cleaning lady was fired from her company. I gave notice because I felt the situation was not going to change. It had not in the two years I had been there.

I gave notice and it was not acknowledged for several days. I sent my notice to all that was aware of the continuing situations. The HR lady was my contact. She wanted to know all the situation and surrounding circumstances. Like she would defend me over the employer.

Right? What a joke that is her job. I got tired of making excuses for my fellow employees to the residents.

The bottom line was that I was lying to the residents and any future residents.

Because they were not getting the service nor product I sold them. Or as a team or management company had promised them.

All involved was aware of the issues. They just swept them under the rug and ignored them. But when you are dealing with people that will tell you if you said I said it I will say you are lying.

I am definitely much better off but it has been hard for me to understand why. Why do right when everyone doing wrong benefits.

I was denied benefits because of a lie.

Hi Sandie,

I thought you said that you quit? Why don’t we start by narrowing the focus to what the determination actually says.

Did it say you voluntarily quit without good cause or did it say you were fired for misconduct connected with the work because you did not follow some procedure?

Why do people not get benefits? They complicate the hell out of things and never focus on the statutory reasons to be allowed benefits.

Once we file an unemployment claim .. the reasons for quitting and the reasons for getting fired become “legal issues” defined by law and precedents decisions (interpretation of the laws).

I’m not trying to be mean or impatient with you Sandie. I’m trying to address your problem.

If you gave notice and quit, it was up to you to expose the reasons for quitting that would allow the state to make a favorable determination for you, otherwise, why file?

If your story above is any indication of “what you told the state” no wonder you were denied.

I usually would at this point direct you to some useful policy manual for your state which contains guidance as to how your state interprets their statutes. These publications have a variety of names, but what they all attempt to do is let you know how an why a decision is made and hopefully you can apply the principles in the decision reasoning to your situation.

Tennesse doesn’t have one .. at least not one that I can find. Sometimes I think I must be the only person in the world that thinks the lack of an unemployment precedent manual is an intentional act to keep unemployed people uninformed .. so less of us are “informed enough” to understand the process we are entering into when we hit the submit button on our claim.

Sandie, you focused on all the wrong things .. at least I think you did because the burden to prove good cause to quit was yours .. not the employers.