Unemployment Question?

[mackerel]

I wasn't sure where to post this. An old colleague/friend of mine just contacted me about applying for unemployment. He was recently fired for basically misappropriating funds. He worked for the company for about 8 years. They aren't going to press charges or anything because there wasn't that much money involved. They did tell him that he won't be eligible for COBRA or Unemployment.

I know that in my job capacity over the years I've had to fire two people and both times they qualified for unemployment but they were fired for gross incompetence and not able to do the job. In one case the person just didn't have the experience they claimed they had and literally spent the whole time doing busy work and not actually doing any real work.

I'm not sure on this and wondered if anyone might know more?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That's embezzlement, and I don't think he's eligible for unemployment. n/t

[TreasonousBastard]

2. He's not elligible becaue he was fired fo cause, but...

apply anyway.

What's the worst that could happen besides being turned down?

[stevil]

3. I'm not a lawyer....

But the employer does not determine qualification for Unemployment Insurance in California. This is left up to the EDD. Your friend need to make a claim and follow the process. It will be your friends word/paper trail vs. what the employer has on file. Tell your friend to examine this:

http://www.edd.ca.gov/Unemployment/

COBRA as far as I know could be denied as per the information you provided, see this:

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-consumer-cobra.html

Hope this helps.

[TheMastersNemesis]

4. Each State Has Its Own Law But Must Follow Federal Guidelines.

I worked for DOL for 24 years.

Any employer in the base period who is liable (wages from that employer are on the claim) usually has the right to challenge a claim. A claimant must be unemployed through no fault of his own. That means usually a lack of work layoff for all employers in the base period where there are multiple employers.

And employer usually has a period of time to challenge a claim by explaining the reason for dismissal. An adjudicator will decide if the issue is such where the claimant loses some or all of his or her claim. It might be helpful to get a copy of the law for your state. Each state has some leeway on how such matters are handled. There are some issues that are not lack of work where a claim would be allowed.

Theft is certainly an issue where a claim would most likely be denied. A bad separation of one employer can wipe out and entire claim where there are multiple employers in the base period.

Being unable to do a job does not necessarily mean a person loses their claim. There can be a number of qualifying reasons a person cannot do a jog. And the case is adjudicated based on the law in the state where the claim was filed. Usually an employer can challenge an approved claim and get a hearing with a UI law judge. And in some cases the employer wins.

Unemployment insurance was set up as part of the Social Security Act. Each state has some leeway in passing its own law within the guidelines set up under the Social Security Act.

To qualify for unemployment insurance a claimant must have enough wages in the base period as determined by law to qualify. The second step is the worker must be unemployed through no fault of his own with each employer he worked for in that period.
The state legislature sets up the rules that determine disqualifying job separations that would cause and unemployment claim to be denied. The unemployment division in that state applies those rules in administering the program.
.

[mackerel]

5. I told him not to worry about COBRA because

he could probably qualify for medi-cal anyway and COBRA is way too expensive to maintain. Thanks for the links. It's looking like he won't qualify but like was mentioned should apply anyway and let EDD decide. I think he said that he had already made out a restitution plan with the employer.

[MichMan]

6. Don't poke a sleeeping bear with a stick

Let me get this right; he embezzled money and they decided to not press charges and fired him instead. It sounds like they have enough evidence of the theft since he is paying restitution.

He is lucky that they aren't pressing charges as that would be on his record permanently, but he is thinking about applying for unemployment anyway??? He needs to slink away, pay the restitution, and reconsider his poor choices and behavior.

[mackerel]

7. There were other factors involved that had to do with the

way the business was run. He conceded how fortunate he was but he was hoping to apply for unemployment because he thought it would at least help while he worked on restitution and finding a new job. As it is he may not be able to find a new job very quickly as he can't use his employer of the last 8 years as a recommendation. He reached out to me for a recommendation and was honest with me. We had worked together for 6 years about 10 or 12 years ago.