by Debra
(Vallejo, Ca. USA)
I was fired after taking a day off to go to court. My employer says that I did not request the day off in writing and that I did not properly notify them that I was going to be absent.So heres how thing really happened. I found out on Dec. 29, 2008 of the court date scheduled for Monday Jan. 5, 2009.I was off work Dec. 29 & 30, 2008, when I came to work on Wed. Dec. 31, 2008, the schedule was posted. Normally the schedules are posted on Friday, but because of the holidays it was posted early. So noticing that I was scheduled for Monday jan. 5, 2009 I began to ask fellow employees about possibly switching shifts. Because we were closing early (12:00 pm ) I did not have alot of time and did not find anyone that day. So when I came to work on Sat. Jan. 3, 2009, I immediatly spoke to the supervisor, telling him of my court date and that I was trying to find someone who could work that day. He also was asking and making phone calls to other employees in an effort to find someone. Before leaving work that day, I spoke to the supervisor, and at that point he told me to go to my court date and that he was going to notify the supervisor that was to be there on Monday that I would not be in, and the reason why. So as you can see, I could not have requested the day off in writing, as the schedule was already done, and I believe that being it was the supervisor that I spoke with and he knew I wasn’t able to be there, and he did in fact notify the Monday morning supervisor of the situation, that is proper notification. I have been written up in the past for my attendance. From April 2008 thru Aug. 2008 I had some medical issues of which I missed work because of, and provided Dr.s slips for. And then in Oct.2008 my car became very undependable and I was absent or tardy because of that. The last time I was written up for my attendance was June 2008, and I was fired Jan. 2009.
Hi Debra,
I think your question is answered very well by the information on this page of the CA eligibility guide.