I worked at a job 20 months.. I had to go to jail for dws for 5 days.. I called my boss said it would be ok.. I come back to work and work 2 hours and they fired me can I still g

Even though every thing I have read about unemployment and incarceration points to gross misconduct findings, in my case that did not happen. I had a court date for a ticket for driving under suspension. I took the day off for court and had decided on a plea with the state recommending I serve weekends. The “hanging judge” I had was (unbeknownst to me) known for giving out harsher sentences than the prosecutor plead out on. Note, I probably would have been aware had I not represented myself. In any case, the judge sentenced me to 30 days. I asked to be given time to get my affairs on order and surrender at a later date due to childcare responsibilities. She denied that request. As a last ditch effort I requested work release. She allowed for that despite the short sentence date. My fiancee called my supervisor on my behalf (as did I after getting out of classification). He stated that I could continue working through my sentence as part of work release.

His managers however later rescinded that offer and terminated me when I called to see why I had not begun my work release yet (one blessing qualifying for work release allowed me to wear street clothes, even though not on schedule, much better than orange).

Long story short, I was released after serving 25 days and promptly applied for UI benefits. The company challenged on the basis of taking time off without permission. During my initial (and only hearing interview), I told unemployment that they knew I was fighting a traffic violation that day and did not have a reasonable expectation to start serving time or missing more work immediately due to my the terms of my plea. I also explained that once the judge had modified my plea, I made every effort to get more time before incarceration and when that failed made a successful effort lobbying the judge for work release eligibility to be made part of my sentence. I then explained that given my knowledge going into court that it was not reasonible for me to for see being unable to return to work without putting in a further leave request and that once I had contacted my supervisor they stated for a week that I could begin work release any day now (jail had already cleared me for the program after 3 days).

Due to these factors I was awarded benefits after my first interview. That despite the fact the from the statutes I read for Maryland (my state), incarceration, even not affecting my job performance or attendence is automatically considered gross negligent behavior, meaning automatic disqualification.

But I also think my story serves to show the power of a compelling story can sometimes succeed in spite of the statutes as written.

I hope that sharing this story can bring hope to those for whom the deck is stacked against ypi

I’m in a similar situation, however in my case i was constantly battling with HR about several racial slurs from upper management towards me. When I went to jail it worked out great for them to avoid any lawsuits terminating was the best way for them to wash their hands. Can I do anything about this.

Well, that’s something you probably ought to talk to a lawyer about ..

I’m neither smart enough nor personally inclined to help you create an argument out of a legitimate workplace issue to cover up an acts of personal irresponsibility that do tend to end jobs.

The exception would be if your arrest was wrongful .. and in that case, I’d want to hear about a dismissal of charges or the not guilty verdict.