California: Laid Off -- Eligible For Unemployment Insurance?

[Boba7523]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hi everyone,

I was recently let go by my employer without warning as a result of misinterpreting company policy. I'd like to know if I'm eligible for unemployment insurance based on the requirements in California, which I've outlined at the end of this post (source: Nolo).

The reason for termination was that there were numerous discrepancies in the time I clocked in versus the time I was actually at my desk. For example, I'd clock in and arrive at my desk 10 minutes later.

The company switched from a physical time clock/fingerprint machine to an HR software where we login to the website to clock in/out. This HR software also has a mobile app. What I did was clock in using the app prior to actually being at my desk. The discrepancy they stated was up to 30 minutes.

As a result, in violation of this time clock discrepancy, I was immediately let go on the same day they conducted the audit, without prior warning.

My position is marketing, and I bear direct responsibility for driving direct revenue for the company. However, ever since my employment, my channel's revenue has been growing month over month, so I don't think my violation harmed the company's business interest.

Am I eligible for UI according to the CA rules below?

Thank you everyone.

In California, misconduct makes you ineligible for unemployment benefits only if all four of these statements are true:

- You owed a "material" duty to the employer. This means a duty that is properly part of the job (this can be, for example, showing up for work and performing your job duties). I believe I owe material duty to employer by clocking in outside of the office.

- You substantially breached that duty (in other words, you didn't perform the duty). A minor or one-time transgression isn't enough to disqualify you from receiving benefits. I believe this qualifies me as I've done it on numerous occasions. However, no prior warning was given, in which I would've corrected the issue. Moreover, after the implementation of the HR software, the company did not notify us that we are required to clock in/out from our desks. And based on all team members in my department who are exempt employees, they do not need to clock in/out, which made me believe that the company is lenient on its policy and focuses more on individual contribution and value to the company instead.

- Your breach of the duty showed a wanton or willful disregard for that duty. In other words, you weren't just careless or thoughtless but, instead, intentionally violated the duty or showed a reckless disregard for the consequences of your breach of the duty. Inefficiency, inability to perform the job, or good faith errors in judgment don't meet this standard and won't render you ineligible for unemployment benefits in California. I don't believe this qualifies me. I was not careless but rather misinterpreted the blurry company policy. The company should've updated its company policy on its expectations from employees after implementing the HR software.

- Your breach of the duty must tend to harm the employer's business interests. I don't believe I qualify for this since revenue generated from my work has only grown month over month.

 

[cbg]

The only one who gets a vote that counts is the EDD and they won't tell you until after you file your claim. No one else can give you anything but a guess, of varying degrees of informed.

 

[justalayman]

I believe I owe material duty to employer by clocking in outside of the office.

Well darn, if you're that dedicated, why not clock in while you're still at home?

I hope you got the sarcasm. Not only does it make no sense to clock in prior to being at your work station, time theft can actually be criminally prosecuted. You were being paid for time you were not working. That's theft.

Your arguments are a load of crap.

 

[commentator]

And a classic example of the sort of argument some people think they're going to have to come up with to be approved for unemployment insurance.

OP, have you filed a claim yet? If not, do so. If you have monetary eligibility to set up a claim, based on the last two years of your work history, then it will procede further. When they ask why you are no longer working, tell them the truth, unvarnished, please, without all the legalese. It will not impress, will not help your situation. Never, ever, ever at any point in this process quote law to the unemployment system. Give simple reasonable answers. You were terminated for a failure to follow the appropriate procedures to clock in, or whatever they told you on the last day, while you were being terminated, was the reason that you were being terminated for.

Whatever you tell the unemployment system, you will set up a claim and begin making the weekly certifications for benefits as the weeks pass. This will take several weeks to process. If you have made a weekly certification for each week and the claim is finally approved, you'll be back paid for each week you have certified for.

But in the meantime, an initial decision must be made whether you are eligible for benefits. The employer will be contacted. They will be asked what you were terminated for. They will probably respond that you were stealing time from the company by failing to clock in according to procedure. "Theft of time" is one of those things that they tend to consider "gross misconduct." Gross misconduct is something that you should've known it was wrong to do, even without any warnings.

In most general misconduct termination and filing for unemployment, it's standard procedure to ask the claimant, Did you know what you were doing was wrong? Had you been warned about this? What was the standard required procedure for performing this act (signing in) Were you aware of this requirement? Did you know, had you been warned that your failure to follow this procedure would result in your termination? In other words, were you told that your behavior regarding this issue was unacceptable, that you needed to change your behavior and that if you did not change your behavior you might be terminated?

It would be helpful to your case if you were given no specific direction that you MUST clock in at your desk. It would be helpful if your co workers were doing the same thing. It would be helpful if your management had knowledge that you were doing this clocking in by app and had not done anything up to this point. But that they did the audit and came and terminated you immediately without warning speaks to that they thought it was a pretty serious thing, something designed to be an actual "theft of time" issue.

Your productivity, your length of time with the company, your sense of whether this behavior was "harming the company's business interest" is irrelevant. California is an "at will" state. They can fire you if they want to, at any time for any reason. But the burden of proof that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you is something the company must show to the unemployment system to keep you from receiving benefits, which would cost them money. Your strongest point is something like "I didn't realize it wouldn't be okay to do this. I was getting my work done effectively" and "I was unaware that I was doing something they would not approve of, as I had had no prior warnings." But those aren't really very strong points, so I'd say your chances of approval for benefits are a good solid maybe but not great. You will have several more levels of appeal to carry through after the initial decision has been made.