My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: California
So this situation is a little strange and I could use some advice. My initial Unemployment Claim was denied by the EDD of California because the company stated that I was fired due to "disparaging the company". The letter states that due to the claim of the employer I am in violation of Section 1256 which reads:
[*]"An individual is disqualified if the department fends he voluntarily quit his most recent work without good cause or was discharged for misconduct from his most recent work."
This was news to me and not the actual reason I was fired. I see this rationale as a post-hoc justification made in bad faith to save the company money, but also as a product of the "sloppy" way I submitted my initial claim (I stated I was fired because, "the CEO thought I was bad for culture", which was a true statement in a narrow sense, but neglects all the relevant context.)
The same day I received notice that my claim was being denied I texted my former direct supervisor (who was the director of operations for the company) and she responded as follows:
"From what I know, the state will reject unemployment claims if the person filing was fired for cause. Based off of what you wrote, something about the CEO deciding you were bad for culture, the state opens up an investigation into the details surrounding why you were fired. This means that anyone and everyone involved has to provide information. Joanne managed the case, so I have no clue how the conversations went down, only that when the agent looking at your case required information, we need to comply and answer the questions or risk getting in trouble by the government. Jeremy (The CEO) had said in passing something to the degree of you shooting yourself in the foot by saying the CEO fired you for culture instead of just saying you were laid off because you were no longer needed in the role. I don't have experience with unemployment claims though so that's about all the information I can give you. Both Jeremy and I were not opposed to paying unemployment so this isn't coming from the company FYI. So if you appeal, I would suggest just researching a little bit more on how you should phrase your claim because California is generally on the employee's side."
Now, my first question is, can I include this text message exchange as part of my appeal? This text seems to directly undercut their claim that I was fired due to conduct (i.e. disparaging the company) and seems to imply that my denial of benefits is more the product of how I phrased my claim and the opportunity it presented my former employer.
Now, I have written a true accounting of what led to my firing and want to make it the basis of my appeal (as it speaks directly to what actually happened and why).
The condensed back of the book version is as follows:
When I was hired (as an "Operations Associate" for an ecommerce business with 10 million annual revenue) the company had informed me that there would be annual raises as well as performance based raises. As a result of this incentive over the first year I took on three major management responsibilities that exceeded what I was hired to do. Eight months into my employment the company informed us there would be no more annual raises and instead they would be instituting a commission system (which amounted to roughly 1% on sales made). This was problematic because I would not be getting the annual raise that was four months away nor would I get commissions for my first 8 months. A few months later they decided to remove the performance based raise as well and this made things even more problematic because the management roles I had taken on were not sales roles, so every second I spent doing those things were seconds I was spending not producing sales and thus not earning more money.
Eventually I had a meeting with the CEO where I stood my ground and requested my performance based raise. He was highly emotional and made me very uncomfortable before denying me that raise (he also called me entitled, conflated some of my business development efforts with a former employee who tried to steal from him years before, and generally just berated me throughout). Immediately following this meeting my direct supervisor told me in our followup meeting that she thought what the CEO had did was very unprofessional and that he had told her he thought by "being aggressive" he could get me to continue to do the extra roles I had taken on at my own initiative and forget about the performance based raise. He did not speak to me for three months following this meeting and in that time I remained very uncomfortable. Eventually in early March he came to my office and asked me for a schedule on when the next Facebook Live broadcast would be (one of the projects I developed and managed that was non-sales related) and I explained that I had not made any such plans without the performance based raise because I was focusing on sales so I could earn more money. To this he replied, "If you ask for more money again you can get out of this office right now."
A week later I was informed by the Director of Operations that I was going to be let go, but she asked if I would be willing to stay on for a few weeks so I could write SOPs for my management responsibilities and train my replacement. I needed the money so I agreed. When I asked her what the CEO's justification for firing me was she said that he thought I was "Bad for Culture". When I asked her if she thought that (she had been routinely praising my work and often told me I was highly professional) she told me that the reality was that the CEO preferred to hire employees who "had no other options" and would "not fight for more money".
That is the long and short of what happened.
Now, I know the company submitted testimony backing up their claim that I "disparaged the company" as that was told to me by the EDD agent when she called me for her investigation. To the extent that I did disparage the company I did voice my discontent regarding the changes made to the payment structure and also how uncomfortable my meetings with the CEO had made me (again, he was HIGHLY emotional, red faced, said some pretty choice things to me -- called me "entitled" for instance). Does that rise to the level of "disparagement"? Also, it may be worth mentioning that I worked for this company for 18 months and there had been other employees there for 5+ years. It was not uncommon for some of these employees to openly talk shit about the company, the management, how the culture was awful there. Again, my supervisor would often tell me I had a "calming influence" on the office and that I was highly professional as a counterpoint to these employees.
So given this information, can anyone offer me some guidance on how I should appeal? Can I include the private text message that I quoted at the onset in my appeal? Would it be worth my while to do so?
The company is small and no one left during my 18 month tenure. I do not believe I will be able to get an existing employee to submit testimony on my behalf, despite the fact that I was popular, respected, and well liked, as that would likely be a death sentence to them at the company. It's also worth noting that I had been told by other employees that the company "never fires people" as the CEO hates to pay unemployment. I do see this as a back-handed, bad-faith effort on his part to avoid doing just that.
I appreciate any help or guidance anyone can offer to me in this difficult time.
Thanks for reading.
So this situation is a little strange and I could use some advice. My initial Unemployment Claim was denied by the EDD of California because the company stated that I was fired due to "disparaging the company". The letter states that due to the claim of the employer I am in violation of Section 1256 which reads:
[*]"An individual is disqualified if the department fends he voluntarily quit his most recent work without good cause or was discharged for misconduct from his most recent work."
This was news to me and not the actual reason I was fired. I see this rationale as a post-hoc justification made in bad faith to save the company money, but also as a product of the "sloppy" way I submitted my initial claim (I stated I was fired because, "the CEO thought I was bad for culture", which was a true statement in a narrow sense, but neglects all the relevant context.)
The same day I received notice that my claim was being denied I texted my former direct supervisor (who was the director of operations for the company) and she responded as follows:
"From what I know, the state will reject unemployment claims if the person filing was fired for cause. Based off of what you wrote, something about the CEO deciding you were bad for culture, the state opens up an investigation into the details surrounding why you were fired. This means that anyone and everyone involved has to provide information. Joanne managed the case, so I have no clue how the conversations went down, only that when the agent looking at your case required information, we need to comply and answer the questions or risk getting in trouble by the government. Jeremy (The CEO) had said in passing something to the degree of you shooting yourself in the foot by saying the CEO fired you for culture instead of just saying you were laid off because you were no longer needed in the role. I don't have experience with unemployment claims though so that's about all the information I can give you. Both Jeremy and I were not opposed to paying unemployment so this isn't coming from the company FYI. So if you appeal, I would suggest just researching a little bit more on how you should phrase your claim because California is generally on the employee's side."
Now, my first question is, can I include this text message exchange as part of my appeal? This text seems to directly undercut their claim that I was fired due to conduct (i.e. disparaging the company) and seems to imply that my denial of benefits is more the product of how I phrased my claim and the opportunity it presented my former employer.
Now, I have written a true accounting of what led to my firing and want to make it the basis of my appeal (as it speaks directly to what actually happened and why).
The condensed back of the book version is as follows:
When I was hired (as an "Operations Associate" for an ecommerce business with 10 million annual revenue) the company had informed me that there would be annual raises as well as performance based raises. As a result of this incentive over the first year I took on three major management responsibilities that exceeded what I was hired to do. Eight months into my employment the company informed us there would be no more annual raises and instead they would be instituting a commission system (which amounted to roughly 1% on sales made). This was problematic because I would not be getting the annual raise that was four months away nor would I get commissions for my first 8 months. A few months later they decided to remove the performance based raise as well and this made things even more problematic because the management roles I had taken on were not sales roles, so every second I spent doing those things were seconds I was spending not producing sales and thus not earning more money.
Eventually I had a meeting with the CEO where I stood my ground and requested my performance based raise. He was highly emotional and made me very uncomfortable before denying me that raise (he also called me entitled, conflated some of my business development efforts with a former employee who tried to steal from him years before, and generally just berated me throughout). Immediately following this meeting my direct supervisor told me in our followup meeting that she thought what the CEO had did was very unprofessional and that he had told her he thought by "being aggressive" he could get me to continue to do the extra roles I had taken on at my own initiative and forget about the performance based raise. He did not speak to me for three months following this meeting and in that time I remained very uncomfortable. Eventually in early March he came to my office and asked me for a schedule on when the next Facebook Live broadcast would be (one of the projects I developed and managed that was non-sales related) and I explained that I had not made any such plans without the performance based raise because I was focusing on sales so I could earn more money. To this he replied, "If you ask for more money again you can get out of this office right now."
A week later I was informed by the Director of Operations that I was going to be let go, but she asked if I would be willing to stay on for a few weeks so I could write SOPs for my management responsibilities and train my replacement. I needed the money so I agreed. When I asked her what the CEO's justification for firing me was she said that he thought I was "Bad for Culture". When I asked her if she thought that (she had been routinely praising my work and often told me I was highly professional) she told me that the reality was that the CEO preferred to hire employees who "had no other options" and would "not fight for more money".
That is the long and short of what happened.
Now, I know the company submitted testimony backing up their claim that I "disparaged the company" as that was told to me by the EDD agent when she called me for her investigation. To the extent that I did disparage the company I did voice my discontent regarding the changes made to the payment structure and also how uncomfortable my meetings with the CEO had made me (again, he was HIGHLY emotional, red faced, said some pretty choice things to me -- called me "entitled" for instance). Does that rise to the level of "disparagement"? Also, it may be worth mentioning that I worked for this company for 18 months and there had been other employees there for 5+ years. It was not uncommon for some of these employees to openly talk shit about the company, the management, how the culture was awful there. Again, my supervisor would often tell me I had a "calming influence" on the office and that I was highly professional as a counterpoint to these employees.
So given this information, can anyone offer me some guidance on how I should appeal? Can I include the private text message that I quoted at the onset in my appeal? Would it be worth my while to do so?
The company is small and no one left during my 18 month tenure. I do not believe I will be able to get an existing employee to submit testimony on my behalf, despite the fact that I was popular, respected, and well liked, as that would likely be a death sentence to them at the company. It's also worth noting that I had been told by other employees that the company "never fires people" as the CEO hates to pay unemployment. I do see this as a back-handed, bad-faith effort on his part to avoid doing just that.
I appreciate any help or guidance anyone can offer to me in this difficult time.
Thanks for reading.
Denial & Appeals: My Ue Claim in California Was Denied Because Company Claimed I "Disparaged Company"
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