Denied unemployment in TN., we had a house fire in Dec.?

Question

I had been using all of my vacation and personal days to get my home rebuilt, we lost three rooms and had smoke and water damage in the rest of the home.After using all paid time due to me I had to take a leave of absence, we started of with a month, but the contractors had not even begun to finish the job, so had to extend leave, my employer said to take the time and we would fill out the form for leave upon my return, as I did not know an exact date the work would be done. Unknown to me they had started giving me points after the first leave, I got a letter in the mail that I had been terminated for violation of the attendance policy. I had been calling in everyday to let them know what was going on, and had no clue I was getting points, now they say I voluntarily quit! I have been with them for over 14 years. To complicate matters a bit, my husband is a manager with same company. Why did they not say something about giving me points, when I had the understanding I was on leave! HELP

BTW I had gotten one write up for points due to trying to work when I could, and having to miss a day here or there due to work being done on home, that is why I had to take the leave, they do not allow one or two day leaves it has to be at least a week. Husband says they are wrong to do this but of course he cannot get involved, not worth risking his job!!

I was denied unemployment for this, My Husband is a manager of one department, I work for a large company, he does not work in personnel so would have no way of knowing about the points. The reason being fired shocked me was because the company had given me extended leave, as they also did for several others to go to assorted countries to visit family, in one case to a girl that wanted to visit her boyfriend who had been deported, she did not come back to work when her leave ended and was not fired. I had not been on leave for 8 or 9 months as some of you have thought, I took 4 weeks vacation time, and 3 personal days. My home was open and exposed to anyone being able to come in, and yes I needed to safe guard it. the amount of time I had taken as "leave" was 7 weeks. The girl visiting her boyfriend was allowed 3 months, and she had not worked enough hours the previous year to qualify for any vacation time. The whole thing just seems so unfair, I guess I am just having a bad year.

Oh, I thought they would keep my job because they said they would, they gave me leave. Non essential personel can have up to a years leave. They said they would fill out the paperwork when I returned as we didn't know how long it would take. I called everday, if they were changing thier minds I think they should have told me!

Denied unemployment because the company said I violated the attendance policy, my main question is if they had me on leave where is the violation!!

Thanks Sassy, I am fighting the denial of unemployment, but I really just want my job back, we will see what happens!

Answer 1

Oh my gosh, I am a human resource manager and legally they have to give you 12 week's leave it is called family medical act leave so since you gave notice they cannot point you and if I were you, i would fight it all the way.

Answer 2

It was unreasonable for you and your husband to expect your employer to keep your job open 8-9 months or more or just come in and work when it is convenient for you to work. It is a business that needs reliable, responsible people who show up for work every day.

You would not have qualified for FMLA as it is for for the birth and care of the newborn child or adopting a child or taking one in for foster care, to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition, to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition. Even then, it is only 12 weeks.

Nearly all states are at-will, which means you can quit at any time for any reason, or your employer can let you go at any time for any reason or no reason at all.

You will not qualify for unemployment as you would need to have been working full-time and been fired without just cause through no fault of your own. You chose to be off work to babysit the contractors. Even if you want to try to fight for unemployment, you would now need to actively seeking full time permanent employment and in most states, provide a list of places you have applied each week and the results.

Answer 3

If your husband is a manager, he should have been aware that points were being counted. I've never heard of getting leave to baby sit contractors. I know you feel it is unfair, but you need to look at this from the employers side of things. You were not employed there because they had extra money, you were employed there to perform a job and I suspect a much needed job. If your job was so important to you, you should have made some different arrangements. I suspect that in order for them to back fill your job, they had to let you go completely. You had to do what you had to do, and your employers had to do what they needed to do.

Answer 4

Employers are not obligated to keep your job open for 9 months while you mess with your house. You have to apply for FMLA leave, and I would seriously doubt it applies in this case, Why would you expect them to keep your job for that long?

Answer 5

You should be covered by the family leave act. Talk to them and if necessary threaten to call the labor board and get a lawyer. They can not do that to you legally. You may have a fight on your hands but most employers wont stand up to a lawyer.

Answer 6

What about the denied unemployment part? Thats why I opened this question.