DOL Appeal -need to vent

HRinGA

This isn't a question, just need to vent. We term'd an employee, she filed for UI and lost. She appealed, requested an in-person hearing. I drag two managers w/me and she never shows!!
Well guess what? I just received another notice for an appeal. It clearly states on the form that "No postponement will be granted except in an extreme emergency".
You know what her "extreme emergency" was? She wrote down the wrong date. While she "apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause, she respectfully requests another appt. to present her case." Can you believe this? I bet you they wouldn't reschedule for me if I conveniently forgot to attend. Good grief. I'm so ticked right now. This is just one of many examples I'm sure showing how dysfunctional our system is. Nobody has consequences for anything.
Thanks for letting me release some steam this morning.

Paul in Cannon Beach

So writing down the wrong date is a government sanctioned "extreme emergency"? Good to know.

ray a

Frustrating, ain't it? Here in my part of NY the closest IU judge is 2 hours away, so all personal appeals are handled by phone. That does remove one factor from the former ee. Once I had a former ee show up for a hearing all bedraggled because she was homeless as a result of being fired living in a tent next to the river and fishing for carp for her meals out of the Susquehanna River. Oh, did I say she also wore a very low cut top and made sure the judge got a peek. I lost.

Balloonman1

You might as well call.........and ask for a judgement in your favor, point out the fact that writing down the wrong date is not an emergency and that none of the material facts have changed.

You have nothing to lose........

Balloonman

HRinGA

I did. They gave me the runaround. The rep told me that apparently she (ex-ee) must have pleaded her case on the phone and that they basically gave her a 2nd chance. But she couldn't tell me what was said or who the rep was. Gov't at it's finest.
Actually, the lady at UI was very polite but couldn't give me any answers. Now I have to appear (again) 6/2. Lucky me.

Irie

Typical government...doesn't surprise me a bit.

BetterCallHR

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-24-06 AT 05:23PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Good luck!

WT

You could request that the hearing be done over the phone. UI will sometimes have one party present while another is on the phone. The cross is more awkward that way and you cannot introduce documents over the phone so if you go that way, put your documents in well in advance. Also, take heart, I had a similar situation with an employee who just did not show up. When we finally had the hearing, the judge found that there was insufficient reason for him to blow off the first hearing and denied the claim without even going over the merits.

System

With the DOL's way of thinking, I suppose that a terminated employee who lost their job due to excessive absences could just say "I forgot to right down the correct dates I was to show up for work......" By the way HRinGA, didn't you just recently say that the UI system in Georgia has been quite employer friendly???

HRinGA

Exactly!! I had to apologize to my two managers b/c I repeatedly told them there was no way she would get another hearing. Boy was I eating crow. I've never had this happen before. I still can't believe they allowed it.

System

When it comes to the UI system, nothing suprises me anymore. They are nothing more than bureaucratic paper pushers that do nothing but hand out money to irresponsible and lazy-ass employees.

E Wart

I am very surprised at this. In Atlanta the DOL has gotten very good and efficient. I doubt they would have done this. It's "yall folks in the sticks" that have the incompetents. (I can say that since I am from an even "smaller stick place" in GA.
E Wart

HRinGA

well, we went to the hearing today. the first issue to be decided was whether claimant showed sufficient reason for not appearing (the 1st time). She stuck with her story that she simply wrote down the wrong date. I could tell by the look on the hearing officer's face that she wasn't buying it. We proceeded with the hearing. I feel confident the original denial of benefits will stand. If looks could kill buddy, me and my manager would be under the table. She was not a nice person. Kept saying over and over how she had never been fired before and how humiliating this entire experience was. Even brought a Christmas card the manager gave her to prove she was a good employee. (hearing officer wouldn't let her admit it as evidence. She then turned to me and said "would you like to put this in my personnel file?" Noooo thank you!!

It lasted about 45min and I'm glad it's over. I'll come back when the decision is released.
Have a great weekend everyone.

WT

Sometimes the hearing officer prefers the timeliness issue. It is a nice technical issue with which to refuse benefits. They can take refuge in that if the merits of the case are pretty shaky. Now if the merits are on the side of the claimant, the failure to appear could then be ignored and probably would be.

HRinGA

UPDATE:

Received the decision today and the original denial was upheld. The hearing officer stated "the petitioner failed to show good cause to have the hearing reopened". Yeah!!
There is good in the world.

Now I have another one for someone who resigned. Go figure...

System

Congrats! Glad the good guys win for once. good luck with your "resignation" claim.

Open1

Congratulations! Persistence often pays off.

Good luck with the new claim. I'm guessing someone who resigned for 75 reasons they never once mentioned...

Paul in Cannon Beach

Congratulations and thanks for the update.

JM in ATL

You must be dealing with the DOL in Cobb County. The biggest bunch of money throwing liberals!

I recently discovered that if you fire someone for violation of your company attendance policy they can still get UI b/c they can't control the reasons why they miss work if it's for an illness!

Sooooo.... if I have a headache for like two days and call out then show up and then have another headache for like two more days and call out and then come back to work and keep repeating this pattern, I can't get fired for violation of attendance policy. YUP! That's GA for ya!

HRinGA

yes, I've learned that the hard way, too. I've lost almost every attendance U/I because as long as they follow the call-in policy, they're ok. They can't control their illness or the illness of others. Lost one b/c the employee repeatedly missed work b/c of sick kids, but she called in everyday to let us know. Because of that, she was allowed benefits.
That one didn't bother me so much b/c I knew she needed the job. At least she had some sort of income, but there are others who work the system.

I also just received notice that another ee we let go was denied benefits. I am usually pretty satisfied with GA DOL. This one just threw me for a loop. I don't understand why we had to go thru the hearing process, just to have the officer state her reason for missing was not justified. Seemed like a waste of time to me. I guess the person answering the phone can't make that decision.

System

When did the system change from requiring the employee to justify why they are deserving of unemployment, to the employer having to prove why it should be denied..........???

JM in ATL

QUOTE: Seemed like a waste of time to me. I guess the person answering the phone can't make that decision.

Um, these are GOVERNMENT workers... need I say more?

HRinGA

yeah, I was trying to be polite. Didn't want to come right out and say they were completely incompetent fools! #-o