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New York offers unemployment benefits that serve as temporary income to residents who lose their jobs. The benefits are available only to those residents who are totally unemployed but actively looking for work. There are other factors considered such as; whether a claimant has worked for long enough to qualify and their reasons for unemployment.
Primary Reasons for Loss of Employment
Unemployed residents who have a sufficient and recent work history are entitled to unemployment insurance benefits if they didn’t resign voluntarily or lose their jobs because of misconduct.
Voluntary Resignation
Individuals who quit their job on their own accord are disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits. However, there are two scenarios that act as an exception to this rule.
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- Forced to resign or mistreatment
Employees who lack a good reason to resign can still receive unemployment benefits if their employer forces them to resign or face termination. If the employer was mistreating the employee, such a reason can be accepted if the employee feels compelled to resign in what appears to be a voluntary resignation.
- Non-disqualifying reason
Unemployment benefits are also payable in cases of non-disqualifying reasons. If an employee resigns from Company B to start working for Company C but loses their job soon after for non-disqualifying reasons, Company B may be responsible for a fraction of the resulting unemployment claim. Company B can contest this result.
Misconduct
Most employees are fired because of workplace misconduct. However, most can still get unemployment benefits. Employers tend to contest such unemployment claims however, proving disqualifying misconduct isn’t easy.
To challenge unemployment claims based on misconduct successfully, an employer has to offer unquestionable proof on extremely bad behavior and given prior warning specifically on the consequences of the bad behavior in question. Reasons such as poor performance rarely amount to misconduct under New York unemployment laws.
There are forms of misconduct supporting termination of employment but don’t necessarily mean an employee will be denied benefits. They include; insubordination, carelessness, insubordination and violation of employment rules. However, these behaviors can amount to disqualifying misconduct under specific circumstances such as when an employee receives prior warning about the improper behavior in question with the future consequence.
Employees who engage in willful misconduct forgo their rights to unemployment benefits. Scenarios qualifying as willful misconduct include:
- Refusing to follow instructions: Employers are required to offer their employees instructions. When those instructions i.e. on how they should do their job. When those instructions aren’t followed and an employer has proof of the same, an employee is considered to have engaged in willful misconduct. However, there are exceptions when an employee disregards unreasonable instructions.
- Excessive absenteeism: Employees must have valid reasons for absenteeism in accordance to the rules of their employers. Examples of good reasons for excessive absenteeism include; disability or terminal illness.
- Abnormal standards of behavior: The acceptable standards of behavior must be clearly stated in the rules. Abnormal standards of behavior include, but not limited to; sleeping in the workplace, use of offensive language, fighting and intoxication.
In summary, misconduct depends heavily on facts. However, close calls usually favor employees.
How Can Employers Reduce the Number of Successful Unemployment Claims?
All New York employers, regardless of their size or industry must first accept that unemployment claims are part of the cost of doing business in New York. Although there are ways of reducing the number of successful unemployment clams such as putting a firmer “grip” on employees, such measures do more harm and good to the business.
A better approach would be consulting widely and making serious considerations before discharging anyone. For instance, employers should work on better employee disciplinary policies that highlight everything that is unacceptable in the workplace.
Most employers are guilty of expecting their employees to practice progressive discipline on issues that may not be covered in disciplinary policies. Such a stance stipulated that employees who are guilty of extreme misconduct cam lose their jobs instantly.
Less severe misconduct issues can be overlooked with a second chance. Employers must go further and provide disciplinary notices with details on the repercussions of further violations. With prior warnings, employers have a higher likelihood of contesting unemployment claims successfully.
