Unemployment if you're fired?

[Bright_Star]

Are you automatically denied unemployment benefits if you're fired from your job?
I have a friend who just got fired from Wally World after working there for almost 4 years for forgetting to initial a maintenance form used to indicate if a bathroom has been cleaned or not, (You'd think management would simply look inside to check if it's been cleaned BUT that's another story.)
Not only her but her co-worker also got fired for the same exact thing!
I think it's a bullshit reason for firing someone when all they could have done was just mention not to overlook it. Simple, right?
Seems Wally World is getting rid of the "old timers" & replacing them with new workers who get paid less. Workers who don't have the experience or the gumption to keep the store operating at peak efficiency.
She's afraid that she won't be able to get unemployment. She filed today online & is scared she'll be denied.
So with what I described, what do you think?

[ShinyGreenApple]

I think she's got a pretty good case, to be honest. I have a friend/former co-worker who was fired from Wal-Mart for too many absences due to, get this, her 4 year old was extremely sick with pneumonia and constantly in and out of the hospital with it. She filed for unemployment and they hired her back straight away. Not that I'm saying your friend wants to be hired back, but still. Best of luck to her!

[Broomjockey]

I thought unemployment *was* for when you got fired, and you didn't get it if you quit.

Then again, I'm Canadianish, so a) Our rules are different, and b) I've been lucky enough to date to not need to find out, so I don't know.

[Jester]

Unemployment is for when you are made jobless through the actions of the employer, not of yourself. In other words, if you are fired or laid off, or your employer goes out of business, you are eligible.

If you quite, you're not.

[JLRodgers]

At first I was wondering if you got it for being fired... then I read broomjockey's post and that made sense too....

They probably just contact the company no matter what and see why -- then either give it to you or let you dispute it for one reason or another. Can't say what will happen -- but when you consider there's only 3 main reasons you're not employed: quit, laid off, fired... if you only get it if you're laid off -- there'd be a lot of screwed people in the country - of course you wouldn't get it if you quit.

[Caveat Emptor]

It sounds like this is a case of "failure to meet standards" (agree that it's a BS reason but falls under FTMS anyway). I was terminated two jobs ago for FTMS, and I got unemployment. If they were fired for misconduct (sexual harassment, stealing, fighting etc.) then most states wouldn't grant UI, but misconduct isn't the case here.

[katie kaboom]

If you quite, you're not.

So if i tell a customer to piss off and i get fired i can file for unemployment, but if i quit because i don't get more than a day or two a week, i can't? What a ripoff.

[Broomjockey]

So if i tell a customer to piss off and i get fired i can file for unemployment,

Pretty sure that claim would be denied, if they can prove you only did it to get fired. At least, up here it would be.

[katie kaboom]

Pretty sure that claim would be denied, if they can prove you only did it to get fired. At least, up here it would be.

you're probably right, but i can dream can't i?

[Boomer]

I got unemployment when I guit a job. Working conditions had changed considerably and the company was trying to make my life miserable so I'd quit. So, one day I walked out.

I presented my case to Unemployemnt. The company responded with a tepid, "Boomer quit for personal reasons." Unemployment decided in my favor and the company let the matter drop. I think part of the reason was that they knew I had some dirty linen to drop during a hearing and they figured I was too much of a loose cannon to take their chances with.

[Dreamstalker]

When I went to apply after being canned from GameStore, I was denied due to the fact that I was fired I never pursued it at the time, but I knew that the owner was way behind on paying his unemployment insurance so that could have had something to do with it (he also maintained that the firing was due to my screwing up, which was a lie...I could see no real way to fight it as he had thoroughly convinced himself that his faults in the whole debacle were mine).

Now, I've technically been downsized and my latest boss will support that so I can reapply.

[draggar]

My wife was "laid off" and not "fired" from her previous employer just so she could collect unemployment. It was also explained to her in the unemployment office that if she was fired she would either not qualify for benefits or qualify for severely reduced benefits.

But, this could vary from state to state.

[Jester]

So if i tell a customer to piss off and i get fired i can file for unemployment, but if i quit because i don't get more than a day or two a week, i can't?

Pretty much, yes. Yeah, your version would suck, but the basic idea is that the lack of unemployment was not your fault, if you follow me.

Keep in mind that my personal knowledge of unemployment is from only one experience, when the restaurant I was working for closed its doors. So I was not fired, but, in a sense, laid off. Sadly for me, that happened right at the slowest time of the year in Key West, so finding new work was, to say the least, difficult.

[The Gatekeeper]

It depends on where you live. In Ontario the laws were changed a few years ago. Essentially you can only get unemployment if you are laid off or your company goes out of business. This is for the first 3 years of employment that is. After 3 years the law changes some.

There is also an appeal process. So even though you may not think you qualify, you can appeal with an explanation.

This is how I understand it for my province only. Check with your local/municipal/state/provincial/county/federal statutes.

[wagegoth]

To the OP, your friend should get a copy of the employee handbook, the section that explains write-ups and such. If there is a procedure, such as one verbal warning, one written warning, termination, then she might have a case that procedure was not followed in her case. Let's just hope the company decides to let it go.


Always try to hang on to a copy of the employee handbook. If it's online, print out the relevant sections and keep them, just in case.