Will I be able to collect unemployment for attendance in NC (attendance policy was changed)?

by Salina

(NC Unemployment Benefits)

My situation takes a lot of dips and dives, so bear with me. I just got fired from a call center job that paid hourly. I was terminated due to attendance.

Our department in this Fortune 50 company was a brand new department that only opened up 9/2010. I was in the second hiring group and went to the phones one month later. Throughout the job I had issues with my health due to stress from the job. I literally lost hair over this job. I was also prescribed an anti-depressant that in turn, back-fired and caused me to have almost chronic stiff jaws, that in turn caused migraines.

The first attendance policy (from my hire date) states that you could have 88 hrs unapproved/unexcused time for a rolling 12 months and 48 hrs unapproved/unexcused time for a rolling 3 months. Mid May of this year they changed that policy to 40 hrs total unapproved/unexcused time for a rolling 12 months. (Each policy does not allow doctors notes to excuse an absence/ nor are you eligible for FLMA until after your one year). Thing is, they did not set you back to zero if you already accrued that time. I was at 48 and on a warning for rolling 3 months, with a few days about to fall off. When they changed the policy I was set to 40 hours. Not zero. So this meant that any additional unapproved time I had would be added to the 40 hours and counted towards other warnings from May to at least November for me.

My supervisor at the time, after having further health issues was required to give me a 2nd warning…. which I signed due to the health issues. Then, one day, she pulls me aside and says, “Hey, some reporting came out and now you’re actually 4 hrs away from being terminated. So your second warning is actually your final. If you miss 4 hours, you will be terminated.” That was not a written warning, I did not sign anything.

This was the end of June. On July 12, 2011 I missed 5 hours due to a migraine from my stiff jaws. I went back after taking an additional day expected for them to walk me out anyway. But, no… eventually my supervisor was being hostile with me. I’m sure she was trying to get me to quit and lay the pressure on me, which did cause me to miss more work due to the stress. I ended up emailing the VP of our department asking him to please have someone with us during future coaching sessions due to her hostility.

I did not receive a reply back, instead I had a meeting with the Director under him to talk about what happened. I gave him my side, strictly about what happened during out last few coaching sessions. About a week and a half later she was no longer with the company… mysteriously.

So now, I’m under an old supervisor I used to have. Her boss (my manager) wants to meet with me. She basically says that I’m not eligible for FLMA, I brought up how I asked my former boss about going part-time and she reiterated that I did not have an actually medical condition to qualify for part-time… she then says, “You could have taken a personal leave of absence, or done a temporary schedule change…” she couldn’t even bring it up in the knowledge base. And, no previous supervisor told me anything of the sort, even though I had asked.

So… they finally let me go on 9/7. Almost 2 months later. Come to find out, they hadn’t even put in for my termination until 8/18. WTF? So, not only did they try to get me quit, create a hostile work environment that backfired, but they added on all this time that works against me due to the stress they caused me. The unemployment office want my rebuttal. I do have a copy of the email I sent to the VP and I have a copy of both attendance policies. How’s it looking for me? Any suggestions on what I should say… or am I royally screwed.

Hi Salina,

Okay, it’s a given, it’s important to get to work on a regular basis. It’s also a given that some people deal with stress of a job, better than others

And logically, it’s a given that a business relies on the people they hire to show up and be ready to work .. and reliably so.

But, after answering so many questions about discharges for poor attendance, I fail to understand why my message is not getting through.

An employer’s rule about something . anything, has to be a reasonable rule per most state UI laws.UI laws.

And regardless of whether an employer chooses to be reasonable on the issue of a doctor notes .. a doctor’s note is the documentation which can show the unemployment department the final incident of absenteeism was beyond a person’s control.

Therefore .. not willful or intentional misconduct.

Why complicate a matter with evidence someone might use in an attempt to show good cause for quitting due to a hostile work environment when the issue at hand is poor attendance and in fact, the separation was a discharge and the burden of proof to show misconduct belongs to the employer?

Give the UI department what they need to show you didn’t willfully miss work.

Doctor notes that you were ill the last time that caused the discharge.

Chris

Comments for Will I be able to collect unemployment for attendance in NC (attendance policy was changed)?

Average Rating

Oct 11, 2012
Rating

Certain about why you were fired?

by: Latasha

I started working for them on 02/14/2011 and was fired on 09/16/2012. No there was no other company that I worked for that I was fired from. before getting this job I was doing the W2 program.

Do you think that I have a chance at winning the appeal?

Yes, you have possibilities on the non-monetary issue of a discharge for misconduct, although I’m not clear on what the employer has told the state about the reason for that separation

However, if the state has set aside and redetermined the monetary .. and are saying you don’t have qualifying wages now .. only you can figure out the answer to that right now.

Also, I have no ideas what you mean by w2 program .. is it a special reemployment program in NC?

And if you weren’t discharged .. any chance you quit the job prior to this one?

Oct 11, 2012
Rating

Certain about why you were fired?

by: Latasha

It says : The employee was discharged for misconduct connected to her employment. The employee was discharged for excessive absenteeisim. although the employee was discharged for attendance violations, disqualification imder S. 108.04(5G)for failure to notify the employer of abenteeism or tardiess does not apply.

Effect

Based period wages from work for the employer prior to the discharge cannot be used to compute the maximum benefit amount for this or any latter claim.

No benefits are payable from 09/16/2012 through 11/10/12 and until the employee earns wages equaling at leas $5,026.00 in covered employment. The employee may be eligible thereafter if she has another bas period employer from which benefits are payable. If benefits are payable, a seperate monetary computation will be issued.

Ther previously issued monetary computation is hereby set aside. the claimant’s benefit year does not begin on 08/05/2012.

This is what the determination letter said from unemployment. I never received a letter from my job.

With proof that I did not intentionally miss work if I get the doctor to right a statement of her imforming me not to send my child back to that childcare provider and why, will I have a fighting chance to come out on top in getting my umemployment?

How long did you work for this last employer that discharged you and did you have a job prior to this one from which you were also discharged?

Oct 11, 2012
Rating

Certain about why you were fired?

by: Chris

So, I have to ask, did your termination notice actually say the discharge was for attendance .. or bringing your son to work with you in direct violation of a known employer rule?

Oct 11, 2012
Rating

discharged for misconduct attendance violation

by: latasha

On Thursday August 2, 2012 my mom did not call or come to watch my son and she would not return my calls because of a disagreement we had so I was stuck I had to call off I had no choice, It took me a few days to find child care that I could afford. Each day I missed I did call the call off line and my coach Deb Jacob to let her know my situation but Deb stop returning my calls. I came back to work on August 9, 2012 having used up the rest of my vacation time and received a verbal warning.
My son will tell me that the lady that watched him would holler at him, grabbed his arm once and she scared him and one day it got to the point that my son was just crying he would not stop crying on my way to her house and he did not want to get out of the car saying he don’t want to be there with her, that he is not comfortable with her something was not right so I ended up taking to a camp which I really could not afford but I had no other choice.
The camp ended on August 30, 2012 me knowing this before hand I was looking for another childcare provider but was not able to find anyone in time that again I can afford searching on craiglist and asking my sons classmates moms and just looking on the Internet. The provider want more than I can afford to pay, was not watching kids on the weekend or just not returning my calls.
I thought that I had lucked up on my son first day back to school one of my sons old classmates mom said that she would watch Jerome.I returned to work on Thursday September 6, 2012 when I got my first written warning. My son loved being with her family she married with two daughters, two cats and a dog.
Jerome started having asthma attacks everyday which is something that he has never done before using his asthma pump 3-4 times a day and on Tuesday September 11, 2012 my son had another asthma attack and his pump was not helping him and I had to rush him to the hospital and found out when talking to the doctor that Jerome is allergic to the her animals he could not tell me which one exactly because the symptoms are similar. The doctor advised me not to take Jerome back to her house because it is not good for his health its making his asthma flair up and it will only get worse if he continue to go there.
I am back in this rut because I refuse to put my son in harms way risking his life and my job will not allow me the time to find proper child care I have been requesting time off non pay to be able to find the proper child care and was denied the time off. So I went to work on Sunday September 16, 2012 with my son because I have yet to find child care and Deb shows up when I was about to take my lunch, called me in a conference room, had me sign my final written warning and said my son is not allowed here and head to leave of course I would have to leave with him so she fired me, she took my badge and escorted my son and I out the building.

Oct 10, 2012
Rating

discharged for misconduct attendance violation

by: latasha

I was not offered FMLA and what does PCP mean?
If I got a letter from the doctor who told me this will I have a fighting chance for an appeal?
The letter that I have received said that the previously issued monetary computation is hereby set aside so does that mean denied?

Did you ask for a leave of any kind from the employer?

Did the employer ask for documentation when you informed them of what you were advised to do by a physician?

How was your attendance prior to this situation?

Did the employer have enough employees to be mandated to comply with the rules of FMLA?

Did you ever look into citing the ADA as a reason to remind the employer of not to terminate you?

How about filing a complaint that the employer violated your rights under the ADA.

PCP is primary care physician.

Unemployment is best prepared to prior to losing a job .. that’s when the employer prepares so you don’t get UIB’s.

Oct 10, 2012
Rating

discharged for misconduct attendance violation

by: Latasha

what if the reason you could not go to work is because a doctor that saw your child in the emergency room adv that your child not go back to the baby sitter house because it is not good for the child health being that the child has asthma and kept having these attacks due to the animals at the childcare providers home. It will only make your child asthma worse and because of that you missed days tryng to find another childcare provider and was fired.

Medical documentation from the ER doctor . by any chance? Possibly that visit sent you to a PCP to get the documentation ..

Point is .. without the documentation being given to the employer .. you’ve become vulnerable in your ability to show why it should not be considered misconduct.

Did you have FMLA available or any time left on a current intermittent FML?