Unemployment rant.......

[JupiterSunsation]

I fired an employee that had been with me for 3 1/2 years. He put in a claim for unemployement despite having another job. Claim was denied and he is totally bent out of shape according to a mutual friend.

I have never in 20 years of being an employer had an employee collect $1 of benefits and only had one injury worker's comp claim (broken arm). I make sure to document my actions and usually give mulitiple warnings/chances to keep the job.

This kid (25) graduated from a 4 year college last year and quickly found no graphic arts careers hence the chip on his shoulder that he shouldn't be working a menial job for me for $600 a week. He opened a warehouse studio with a buddy and started doing art projects/t-shirts at night causing his day job (my problem) to suffer. He started showing up late, leaving early (on art show nights) citing his need to focus on his "art career" despite the fact I had paid him about 100K over his term of employment, suddenly I am 2nd place in the priority chain. Facebook had turned into a great tool to see what he was doing all night (posts of finished projects at 3am made it clear how much time he was going to spend at my job the next day). He also recently moved about 50 miles away (to be closer to the "studio") causing an hour commute each way.

He called in sick (facebook indicated no sickness, but rather a concert a few hours away) and I got a good look at his quality of work and canned him the following week (after having the new guy start). When I let him go, he shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't want the job anyway......A week later the letter comes in the mail, requesting benefits. Unfortunately he sent an email outlining his shortcomings/other issues and I forwarded this email to the unemployment folks. This dictated the fact he caused his own dismissal (due to poor job performance) and would not receive benefits due to this and the fact there is other employment.

Am I totally nuts to think that unemployment should be reserved for people who were laid off due to circumstances out of their control? I know Obama recently extended benefits to the unemployed to help their issues but if this guy was planning on getting paid then what is the system for?


BTW- update he has found work parking cars (his roommate owns a valet business). But I suspect he had the fantasy of working cars at night (for cash), collecting $270 a week unemployment and collecting cash from "art shows" as the finale to his income potential.

[Ratickle]

In Michigan he would have collected the unemployment from my experience.

[cigdaze]

You did fine in my book JS. He doesn't deserve unemployment. Unemployment should be for good workers who get laid off. Not for those that are fired for pizz poor performance.

[Trim'd Up]

In IL most people get the unemployment if they are discharged for any reason. Fighting it is a losing battle in my experience. The only way they don't get it is if they quit.

[JupiterSunsation]

The official term was:

"The claimant was discharged for willfully failing to meet the employer's job requirements. The claimant's actions were not in the employer's best interests." Section 443 The benefits are not payable because: The discharge was for misconduct connected with the work.


The employer's account will not be charged should any benefits been paid.



My aggravation is from the kid's attitude about the job. His parents commended him on Facebook for his decision to focus on art...........HIS DECISION? He was fired!

Glad they like supporting Jr. since they will have to forward a portion of their checks to keep his artistic dream going......

[cigdaze]

"The claimant was discharged for willfully failing to meet the employer's job requirements. The claimant's actions were not in the employer's best interests." Section 443 The benefits are not payable because: The discharge was for misconduct connected with the work.

Bingo. You've got to love FL law. No unemployment if one's fired.

[Five Cent Worth]

Glad they like supporting Jr. since they will have to forward a portion of their checks to keep his artistic dream going......

Don't you love artisits like this... I work with designers like this on a daily basis - cracks me up to no end. No grasp on reality.

[JupiterSunsation]

For those of you that don't know........I am in the pool business. This kid's job was to clean 20 pools a day/ 100 a week. Done right, not rushed it comes to about 35 hours a week. His check this year was $1300 gross every two weeks. All he had to provide was the labor....truck, chemicals, equipment was all provided. Not exactly rocket science and the job is steady like govt. work!

Needless to say when I inquired to others about the job, applications/emails were flying my way. Replacement has more job experience and started the following week.

[JupiterSunsation]

Don't you love artisits like this... I work with designers like this on a daily basis - cracks me up to no end. No grasp on reality.

Interior Decorators actually get offended if you call them this! They are called Interior Designers now.....

It seemed every soccer mom in S. FL was either a realtor, interior designer or faux painter 5 years ago!

The trend has subsided but for awhile the dark pools (black, dark gray etc) were all the rage. The downfall is they look really unappealing for swimming (especially to tourists/guests who dream of blue pools) and the calcium build up (think stalactites hanging from a cave ceiling) kills the look of waterfalls that hover above them! Of course anyone that has been around pools (particularly older ones) never likes the way these turn out over the years but the interior "designers" loved them!

[JupiterSunsation]

This was his response to an email I sent him. This was the note that ended his chances of an unemployment claim:

i admit i have been rushing more lately. i have been putting in long nights at our studio, and trying to take advantage of as many opportunities as i can outside of my day job. i know you could care less, as that has nothing to do with your business, but it does not mean i don't care about the job. i have gotten used to doing the same thing over and over again and have cut a few corners. i will do a better job and am sorry for the dip in my quality of work. this is a job i need, it pays my bills and rent and allows me to live in florida. i also admit that it is not the job of my dreams and can get mundane, but is essential due to the current economic situation. i would love to be doing something else, but i am trying the best i can to be productive outside of pools, so i don't end up being like tony. i will be more attentive and do a better job.

[TIKI]

Tony must have a bad life???

[JupiterSunsation]

Tony must have a bad life???

Yeah.....10 year employee I let go when I hired this kid. He was a guy in his late 40's, driving a 25 year old 250K mile Corvette, still living with his mother while spending all his money on hookers...... The younger guys that work for me looked at him as a complete loser. He spent a whole week's paycheck on his 40th birthday with a couple of hookers in Miami. 40 hours of work gone in 45 minutes of "action."

Tony was a funny guy who liked to have a good time......unfortunately DUI #3 with injury/property damage followed by a driving while suspended charge screwed him up pretty bad financially and socially. Guy missed one day of work in 10 years, rolled a CJ-5 on the way to work due to a cracked leaf spring. He was back at work the following day and Jeep was back on the road about 2 weeks later after a new set of springs, steering box and other misc. parts. Roll bar was bent but he never fixed that.


Florida is full of people with burnt out dreams. Tony was from Mass, this last kid was from NJ......both ended up in Florida to find happiness, riches and fun! Most people don't realize that the zip code isn't the problem, it is the person themselves!

[sledge]

Fack...20 pools in 7-8 hours? How tight was the route?



Just a light ball-bustin'. It took me longer than that when I helped out a buddy of mine that was stuck out of town. A few tablets in the floater and a half-ass scrubbing took about 30mins.

Lose no sleep over this guy...you were a gravy train for him.

[JupiterSunsation]

Fack...20 pools in 7-8 hours? How tight was the route?



Just a light ball-bustin'. It took me longer than that when I helped out a buddy of mine that was stuck out of town. A few tablets in the floater and a half-ass scrubbing took about 30mins.

Lose no sleep over this guy...you were a gravy train for him.

haha...my route trucks travel about 10K miles a year. Some days all 20 are on the same street. No pool is farther than 15 miles from the warehouse. I worked with the largest builder in S. Fl during the boom so the pools tend to be very tight, same neighborhoods. Had a neighborhood years ago, 400 homes, we serviced 140 pools plus the clubhouse pool just in that neighborhood. I had whole streets where we did every single pool on the street! Tommorow one guy goes to a very exclusive golf club where there are less than 24 pools, we do 19 of them (12 of which are salt water). It is a two street community so from 8am till 2-3pm he will be on one of those two streets. 3 pools an hour is a good measure provided they aren't bombs or far apart. Many pools today actually manufacture their own chlorine through salt systems so you don't even add chlorine.

Travel time will kill any route business and it makes you NO MONEY!

[Hilltop Kyle]

In IL most people get the unemployment if they are discharged for any reason. Fighting it is a losing battle in my experience. The only way they don't get it is if they quit.

Well of course you are gonna get it in Illinois....

[Quinlan]

Losing battle in OK to. Maybe if I would have drove 100 miles each way to show up in arbitration (sp). But still doutful

[Perlmudder]

Yikes! I vacuumed the pool at the swim school today and by the time I drag the hose and vacuum out, go to the pump room and flip some switches, head back to the pool deck and vacuum, clean the skimmer, brush down the deck, put the vacuum and hose away, and then head back to the pump room to clean the second strainer, flush the system, and clean the chlorine injectors it takes me an hour or so (and thats not including scrubbing the scum line)! I could not imagine doing 3 of those in an hour.

[t500hps]

Your lucky....couple years ago we fired a lady that missed at least one day a week. When she did show up it was 20 min to 1 hour late. She claimed being a single mom and had to get her kid to school in the fathers school district was the reason. Finally pointed out that school had been out for a month of summer break.

At the hearing she claimed her being late was "understood" and OK. Then why do I expect 130 other people to be on time????? They gave her benefits anyway! BASTARDS!!!!

[Buoy]

Last year, I filed for unemployment.
My wife and I were working for the same Co., and both in good standing.
She got a promotion that caused us to move cross country. I could not be placed in her location, because at my level, and her new level, I would have been reporting directly to her.
Up until my very last day, they were still trying to find another position for me within the Co., but no open positions existed that I was qualified for that would allow me to work from the new location.
When I filed, the Co. did not dispute it.
The state denied the claim.
I disputed it, and once again the Co. intentionally stepped away (I had information that their stance was that they had already paid into unemployment, they wanted my wife in the new position, and they didn't want to see either of us struggling while I was seeking a new position with another Co. in a new location).
The state once again denied stating that I quit of my own accord for my wife to take the position.
Catch 22 here.
If my wife didn't take the position, she would have sealed her fate of ever being promoted.
Yes, we could have both stayed in our relative positions, but that was not what the Co. wanted to see in growth of it's employees.
So, What is your opinion of this situation?
I've never recv'd UI in my life, but a few months until I found a job in the new locale would have done wonders in meeting some of my financial obligations.

[insanity]

You should have fired him for using the letter 'i' 15 times in that e-mail and not capitalizing it ONE TIME!!!!

This was his response to an email I sent him. This was the note that ended his chances of an unemployment claim:

i admit i have been rushing more lately. i have been putting in long nights at our studio, and trying to take advantage of as many opportunities as i can outside of my day job. i know you could care less, as that has nothing to do with your business, but it does not mean i don't care about the job. i have gotten used to doing the same thing over and over again and have cut a few corners. i will do a better job and am sorry for the dip in my quality of work. this is a job i need, it pays my bills and rent and allows me to live in florida. i also admit that it is not the job of my dreams and can get mundane, but is essential due to the current economic situation. i would love to be doing something else, but i am trying the best i can to be productive outside of pools, so i don't end up being like tony. i will be more attentive and do a better job.