The Ins & Outs of Unemployment

I’m sure we all know someone right now that is collecting unemployment.  Unemployment claims in Nevada are one of the worst in the United States and are continuously rising.  We work hard most of our lives and then something happens and we lose our job.  Recently this is relating to many companies doing layoffs and reductions in staff to get through these difficult economic times. 

Each week an employee collects a paycheck from their company and pays taxes to our government.  When this employee loses their job, they apply for unemployment.   When you go to file for unemployment, they have somewhat simplified the process for it and allowed for online applications for most circumstances:  http://detr.state.nv.us.

There are two parties involved when a person files for unemployment:  the employer and the employee.  Let’s  think about each and understanding both sides will help both employers and employees alike.  After all you have to understand the big picture and how all of the puzzle pieces fit together before you can act in your own best interest, whichever side you fall on.

Let’s begin with the employee:   One of my friends recently got “lost” in the system.  He applied for unemployment in December when he lost his job.  It was “Olly’s” first time applying for unemployment and he thought he completed it fairly – he was discharged from his company 2 weeks before Christmas.  It took approximately one month before he received information from the state of Nevada and he then found out his employer was fighting his unemployment and that he had rights to go to the Department of Unemployment for an Appeal Hearing if he wanted to fight his appeal.

In order to request this hearing a letter stating the reasons why the appeal is requested, along with any paperwork that may help the previous employee is submitted within 7 days to the Department of Unemployment.

You may be asking yourself, why would an employer fight unemployment?  I have fought many unemployment cases and won all but 1.  An employer would fight unemployment because the employee was discharged for misconduct, theft/crime or voluntarily left their position.  There are times when applicants lie on their unemployment about the reason they were terminated in order to collect unemployment.  These are the ones that I fight.  At the very least be honest, we have all made mistakes in our lives. 

When I do fight unemployment, I have documentation – termination paperwork that I send into unemployment that the employee may or may not have signed, employee handbooksign-offs, any related counseling forms (etc).  These are key items to winning unemployment cases.   For the record, the only one that I have lost up to this point in my career – I did not have the proper documentation and this is why I lost. 

Fighting unemployment definitely helps your bottom line, as each company gets a charge-back for everyone on unemployment.  I am not saying to fight every case – only cases that warrant doing so as specifically stated above.  Many companies lose easy money by not reviewing each document received by the Department of Unemployment. This only takes a few minutes to verify that the person applying indeed was a past employee and why they were terminated.  For those cases that do not warrant fighting, you as the employer do nothing with these documents, except keep them in the employee’s file for the next 7 years.

Okay, let’s get back to “Olly,” the employee, his appeal was accepted and he had to appear for an Appeal to be heard by a Referee down at the unemployment office.  I represented him in the hearing and when we arrived we had already reviewed his case, his paperwork and reviewed pertinent material to cover the facts of his case.  When we were called into the Referee’s office we found out that the employer failed to appear via phone or in person, even though they had local representation. 

Note to employers – when you appeal an unemployment case, be sure to show up for the appeal, or a decision is rendered without your testimony.  Also, it is imperative to arrive or call the number on time, because if you are late and the hearing has already started, they will not allow you to interrupt and the hearing will proceed without you.

We presented “Olly’s” side of the case and the Referee asked a few questions and explained that he would make a decision and “Olly” would receive his decision in the mail within 7-10 days.  He also told us that the employer would also receive the decision.  You will be happy to hear that we did win the case and “Olly'” finally receive the benefits he deserved in May – this is a perfect example of a case not to fight from the employer side.

Now, “Olly’s” story gets even better, the employer who was not well versed in Human Resources practices decided to appeal the appeal that was reversed.  I hope you are still with me.  “Olly” had to write another letter stating his case again and his case was heard by the Board of Appeals in Reno.  After all of this back and forth between the employer and “Olly,” the employer again failed to show a second time and this made the Board of Appeals furious.  Personally, this is one of the many government boards that I would not want to upset.

For anyone that is beginning the process of applying for unemployment, be patient, read everything and double check everything you write:  reason for termination, dates worked, social security numbers (etc).  Any mistake on your part will slow down the process of your case and receipt of benefits.  Also, be sure to apply immediately, you do not want to miss a payment when you are out of work. 

For employers, always ensure you have proper termination documentation, signatures and dates for your records and anything you may need in regards to each employee’s file should you need them in the future.  Trust me, this will come back to haunt you if you are not extremely careful with all types of employee paperwork.  Organized record-keeping is essential for all facets of any business.  Each employee should have a file for when they are an active employee which is converted into a termination file upon termination of employment with the company. 

This may sound like a time consuming process and it is at first until you get a system together, but it is worth it.  I have assisted many companies and individuals with re-doing their file system in order to benefit themselves.   This is the first step of many in order to maintain proper records that will help you in many instances down the road.