Should I quit or be fired for being inefficient.

by Tiff

(San Jose, CA)

I’ve been with this company for more than two years.
My boss’s been stressed out lately about the economy (I think) therefore it seems like everything I do, cannot satisfy her.

Beginning of this year, when I was pregnant, if I did a job that she thought “not efficient” for her, she would say something like “I know you’re pregnant, a lot of things on your mind, but you cannot let it effect your work”. “If you cannot do it, I’ll get someone else to do it”.

Then, after I had my baby, she would bring my daughter into the conversation. I feel so uncomfortable everytime she brings my daughter into the conversation to blame me.

One thing about her is that she’s never let me finish what I am trying to say. She always jumps right in and puts words in my mouth when I try to speak. She does it to every employee at work.

I want to quit and apply for unemployment while looking for another job but not sure I would qualify for the unemployment benefit.??? I’ve been trying to look for another job now but it’s just so tough.

Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago, she asked me to follow up on a credit, which I did and tried to explain to her what happened but she didn’t let me explain it. She turned around and got upset at me for not following up with my work.

I have all the proof that I did follow up with the work. She emailed me saying that she cannot tolerate my inefficiency anymore. She said that she’s giving me couple weeks to show my improvement or she will have a meeting with me to come up with a solution.

Now, I have the feeling that she’s going to fire me. If she does fire me, can I apply for unemployment benefit while looking for another job?

My husband and I just bought a house, and with a newborn, we cannot afford to live on 1 income.

Thank you for your input.

Hi Tiff,

I’m never comfortable telling someone to quit because I don’t know what steps you have taken to preserve the employment, or another way to say this is what steps have you taken to correct the situation. If she’s never let you complete anything you have to say, I have my doubts that you have taken any actions to try to resolve the problems. The choice to quit or not is a personal one. You need to read California’s eligibility determination guide regarding “voluntary quits” there’s a link to it on this page.

Now on the other hand, if you feel she is going to fire you, can you tell me if the company has an employee handbook, with a progressive discipline policy and if so, has she followed this policy.

Employer’s failure to follow their own policies is one of the reason’s people who don’t deserve unemployment get unemployment.

It is necessary for an employer to prove “willful” misconduct. Inability, whether real or perceived is not misconduct. If she’s tossing the word inefficient around she’s not doing anything to strengthen her case.

You mentioned she has a problem with your “follow up” to your work. I would tell an employer that this is not “Poor Job Performance” or “Inefficiency”, but rather “Neglect of Duties”. Not because I think that of your situation, but because you need to know what tact the employer will take. They do not want to pay you unemployment benefits.

To understand the difference between these two very different reasons to fire someone let me try to explain…..

Inefficiency or inability would be if someone was unable to complete their workload with a minimum of errors, but asked for help, was provided with additional training, but never got the hang of it. This could be due to a number of reasons, but the employee was never able to achieve a satisfactory performance level…as far as the employer is concerned.

Neglect of Duties is when someone has proven themselves capable of doing the job, but their performance falls off and the quality of their work deteriorates for some reason. Instead of asking for help the employer may find their work stuffed in a drawer. This is intentional and it is willful misconduct.

Of course, if the reason the performance fell of and the quality of the work became less than adequate was due to a hefty increase in workload it would probably be seen as inability…until they stuffed the work in their drawer.

If you’ve done your job to the “best of your ability” and the employer cannot prove otherwise you will probably get unemployment if fired.

Getting unemployment when you quit a job is not impossible, but it shifts the burden to you the employee and requires attempts by you to “save the employment. When a person quits, they’re essentially firing their employer…and just like the employer must prove good cause for getting rid of someone, so must you.

Chris