commentator
Senior Member
School claims in every state are adjudicated somewhat differently than regular claims, different BYE, slightly different ways of considering and going about things. And school districts FIGHT LIKE HELL to avoid having someone get approved for benefits, because they are penny for penny reimbursing employers. They pay in unemployment taxes only if someone is approved, only enough to cover this person's specific claim, and this is money the school district has not budgeted for. They hate doing it. But I agree with chyvan in that she should go on and file the claim immediately. The unemployment system will set up the claim now and obtain all the necessary information about how long and when she is being paid for, and will determine when she can begin to receive benefits IF APPROVED. They will also begin the process of obtaining the information necessary to make a determination about her eligibility.
As in all unemployment claims, to keep her from drawing after a termination the employer must show that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate this person's employment, either a truly valid gross misconduct reason (she backhanded one of the students or was caught embezzling from the lunch funds) which requires no prior warnings, or they must have a work related issue for which she has received appropriate notice about her work behavior and has had progressive discipline which did not result in her behavior changing or improving. They'll have plenty of time to begin gathering information about this, even if she is being paid and is not able to receive benefits, which they'll know all about and will determine based on NJ statutes which deal with it.
The whole unemployment insurance situation may give the claimant a lot better idea exactly what the school district is going to say about the reason they were summarily terminated, but it will not tell them if the termination was legal under any other labor laws or whether it violated any other criteria, such as EEOC or ADA or OSHA issues. For that, you'd need an attorney. Frankly, I have seen many many terminations of this type, and never saw a single one in which it was proved that labor laws had been violated because there was not written notice of the termination. As someone said, we can't determine this from the brief picture of the contract. I cannot imagine the school district would not keep the right to control when and how they terminated someone legally without having to give this much written notice.
As in all unemployment claims, to keep her from drawing after a termination the employer must show that they had a valid misconduct reason to terminate this person's employment, either a truly valid gross misconduct reason (she backhanded one of the students or was caught embezzling from the lunch funds) which requires no prior warnings, or they must have a work related issue for which she has received appropriate notice about her work behavior and has had progressive discipline which did not result in her behavior changing or improving. They'll have plenty of time to begin gathering information about this, even if she is being paid and is not able to receive benefits, which they'll know all about and will determine based on NJ statutes which deal with it.
The whole unemployment insurance situation may give the claimant a lot better idea exactly what the school district is going to say about the reason they were summarily terminated, but it will not tell them if the termination was legal under any other labor laws or whether it violated any other criteria, such as EEOC or ADA or OSHA issues. For that, you'd need an attorney. Frankly, I have seen many many terminations of this type, and never saw a single one in which it was proved that labor laws had been violated because there was not written notice of the termination. As someone said, we can't determine this from the brief picture of the contract. I cannot imagine the school district would not keep the right to control when and how they terminated someone legally without having to give this much written notice.