Denied unemployment

[Jmccaskill]

I'm a flight attendant and I was denied unemployment as I was a probationary flight attendant that missed a call at 2:30 AM . Although I did make the return call late, I was willing and able to take and accept the assignment that was required of me.I was not able to make it, but later on that day I was assigned a trip for three days and I also worked the following week for three days.The company decided to fire me because they were unable to contact me in the beginning, therefore I was denied unemployment. The hearing officer decided that it was my fault that I was terminated. I'm appealing once again. Because I did not leave the airline under my own volition. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[Shadowbunny]

I'm a flight attendant and I was denied unemployment as I was a probationary flight attendant that missed a call at 2:30 AM . Although I did make the return call late, I was willing and able to take and accept the assignment that was required of me.I was not able to make it, but later on that day I was assigned a trip for three days and I also worked the following week for three days.The company decided to fire me because they were unable to contact me in the beginning, therefore I was denied unemployment. The hearing officer decided that it was my fault that I was terminated. I'm appealing once again. Because I did not leave the airline under my own volition. Any advice would be helpful.

Sorry, US law only.

 

[Chyvan]

You really need to put the state in there.

IThe hearing officer decided

Did you really have a hearing or was a phone interview?

Also, type in the decision.

 

[commentator]

Yes, we definitely need a state, most specifically, what state the airline is in and what state your claim is set up in. Also what stage of the appeal you are in. As in, was this the first time you had been rejected, and then you had an appeals hearing, or is this the initial decision and you can make an appeal and request a hearing? Sometimes they do "fact finding" hearings before making an initial decision. The bad news for claimants about this sort of operation is that they tend to have very explicit HR policies regarding call ins and everything else and they tend to win most of their unemployment cases because they have done it so often and are so cut and dried. They do not tend to go outside their usual operating policies and therefore there's not much wiggle room on why you missed even one call in or why they should have allowed you to miss it. However, that they continued to give you assignments for a few more days might be of significance.

 

[Jmccaskill]

Colorado security act 8-73-108. I initially applied was denied. Then I appealed the decision, had a hearing over the phone and was denied again. Now I'm in the process of appealing again. Pretty sad when I've been working since I was 16 now 45 and can't get temporary financial help.

 

[Chyvan]

Colorado security act 8-73-108.

This isn't really useful.

Then I appealed the decision, had a hearing over the phone and was denied again.

This is where you should have gotten help. It was the MOST important part in the whole process.

Now I'm in the process of appealing again.

The odds are not in your favor. There is no new evidence at this phase with limited exceptions. To succeed, you're pretty much telling the judge's peers that he/she was wrong. You need to type in the decision to look for hopefully an obvious error.

Pretty sad when I've been working since I was 16 now 45 and can't get temporary financial help.

This is not going to help your case. You can work for a little over six months, make big money in a state like CA, get fired for putting your boss in the hospital, keep your mouth shut about what you did, have an apathetic employer, and collect UI.

UI is about the reason WHY you lost your job. I'm not convinced that missing a call at 2:30 am is misconduct, but if the rules were that you were required to be on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and you agreed to that, then it is a problem.

However, you also said that you were a probationary employee, and in CO. CO and NE are the only two states that I know that cancel wage credits. In all probability, you didn't get denied UI because of the reason for the separation, but because all your wage credits were cancelled from your prior base period employers when you quit to take this job. If that's the case, there is no point in appealing. That's just the way CO does things, and you're never going to change that. Depending on how long you worked at the airline, you could reapply when the earnings from this job age into your base period. The quarter is changing on April 2, and if CO uses an alternate base period, you might be able to qualify then.

 

[commentator]

I would be very surprised if this person was working for an airline which paid its employer taxes in either of the two states mentioned, therefore, an unemployment claim would be likely to be based from the state the airline was in, and subject to its rules. Also, if there was no monetary eligibility there would never have been all these hearings. If you have no claim, there is nothing to appeal to be approved for or denied.

As said, there's very little you can do at this point. And most airline policies are set up so that you are especially during your probationary period, dangling at their complete mercy as far as why they can terminate your employment during this period. It may have been a total and totally unavoidable accident or bad luck that caused you to miss this call in, but if they WANT TO, they can according to their regulations, use this as a reason to terminate you during your probationary period. They don't even have to follow their own policies, if they want to they could've made an exception and not fired you for this.

But the fact you've been working for however long or how badly you need unemployment has very little to do with your receiving it. It is not an entitlement program and is not in place based on your low income or need for it. And also, the people who receive it are not all the low life and undeserving who know just what to say or have lazy employers.

In a heavily unionized industry like the major airlines, they have been doing this a long time, they are very interested, and they take great pains to weed out people during their probationary period who give them the slightest reason to do so, usually without unemployment benefits due to their knowing how the system works and having done their homework quite thoroughly.

 

[Chyvan]

I would be very surprised if this person was working for an airline which paid its employer taxes in either of the two states

United Airlines runs a fortress hub out of DEN.

Also, if there was no monetary eligibility there would never have been all these hearings.

If the reason for quitting the prior job to take this new job with the airline was for "good cause" or one allowed by a handful of exceptions, then it's possible to get the wages reinstated, and an appeal would make sense and be allowed.

I'm just not convinced this most recent separation is the cause of the denial. It might be, but I haven't seen the decision. In a lot of other states, it would be like quitting a perfectly good job, working a new job for a day, and then getting fired. Without working long enough and earning enough at the new job, sometimes you just don't get benefits.