How to intentionally get terminated from a job without sacrificing unemployment benefits?

My friend is a customer service rep who is ready to retire. Her company is talking about layoffs with 13+ weeks of severance, but when she asked (anonymously) if they were accepting volunteers, they said no. In case she’s not one of the ones told to clean out her desk, what are the ways she could get terminated while preserving her ability to claim unemployment (which would equal the 13 weeks of severance)?

UPDATE: She took my advice and saw her doctor. He agreed that she’s experiencing a job-related stress injury, set her up with a Disability claim, and referred her for psychiatric counseling.

lemmefixdat4u,

Thank you all for the suggestions! One that I mentioned to her is to ask her doctor if her recent health issues could be related to the fact she gets stressed dealing with corporate customers, who can be very demanding. It’s an increasing proportion of her job that is not part of her original job description (actually the reason she wants to quit). Let it slip in the employee chat system that she’s seeing a doctor about workplace stress induced illness. Management will see it as a prelude to a workplace disability claim and want her out.

NeoNachtwaechter,

Her company is talking about layoffs with 13+ weeks of severance

How about talking about this topic everyday, to everybody, all day long?

lemmefixdat4u,

The employees already do that. It’s public knowledge, and not something the company is trying to hide.

dylanmorgan,

Assuming this is in the US, be sure of your state’s unemployment laws. A lot of states say you are ineligible for unemployment if you are fired for cause, like attendance issues or failure to perform work duties.

LilB0kChoy,

It’s important to note that, barring something egregious, single instances don’t meet the with cause definition.

There has to be documented history that the issue was raised with you and addressed (verbal warnings, write ups etc.)

dylanmorgan,

That depends on the state, OP’s friend should check before trying anything.

LilB0kChoy,

No, it doesn’t. A single occurrence of being late, or the first instance of being talked to about job performance does not meet the requirement of cause to deny you unemployment benefits.

An employer has to demonstrate repeated occurrences with documentation to be able to justify denying unemployment. Without that they can contest your claim but as soon as you appeal it they will be overruled unless they can show a repeated pattern with corrective action documentation.

Usul_00_,

This varies by location. I’ve been through it on both sides in a few states, and when working with an employment lawyer one of the most crucial things he said was to make sure the filing was in the beneficial state.

chaorace,
@chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Also worth noting that most companies prefer to treat any given firing as “without cause” because stating a reason is usually a net-loss in terms of legal exposure.

Exceptions to the rule include, but are not limited to:

  • States which make it expensive/slow to fire without cause (because money)
  • Union jobs (because union)
  • Retaliative firings (because worker’s rights)
  • Prejudiced firings (because civil rights)

How does one tell if they’re on the road to a with-cause termination? Simple: documentation. If you’re suddenly being put under a microscope it might indicate that a premeditated f-bomb is hiding around the corner.

LilB0kChoy,

Exactly! Documentation is the best indicator, usually escalating from verbal, to written and then to final. A PIP, performance improvement plan, is another good indicator you’re on the block.

remotelove,

Microwave some fish in the break room and leave the door to the room open.

Duranie,

Calm down Satan.

I worked at a massage school and was running the student clinic early on a Saturday morning. About 8:30am a student microwaved some fish for breakfast. We got to smell that shit most of the day.

bighatchester,

For a call center you just have to not meet stats enough months in a row and they will fire you . I once had a job selling internet, tv and phone bundles . I consistently had top sales but got let go because I never always offered every single option I could to try and nickel and dime the customer. With extra fees for things they didn’t need .

lemmefixdat4u,

She’s already been trying this. Takes her time looking up solutions, and then defends her long call times by saying she’s being thorough. The layoffs should be any time now, so we’ll see if that worked soon enough.

Froyn,

Easy. Email everyone in the company how much she makes.
Start an email chain about wages.
Open the handbook and start using/abusing the loopholes while pointing them out.

And most importantly; do as little as possible while maintaining the job requirements as laid out in the listing.

Maeve,

That’s not a legally fireable offense in the USA.

Froyn,

I thought the idea was to "get severance". Which would be "it's cheaper to pay severance than permit them to continue disturbing the workplace. Sounds like you're trying to advocate doing something illegal.

lemmefixdat4u,

Ideally she wants to be laid off. But if that doesn’t happen she wants to retire. I’ve been trying to convince her that retiring means no severance and no unemployment, so getting fired without cause is her next best option.

cooopsspace,

It’s not in Australia either but it definitely happens. Seen it personally. Nobody will become a union representative if they’ve seen the last 3 not have their contract renewed for unknown reasons.

roofuskit,

That’s the goal here though. If she wants to collect unemployment getting fired without cause is the plan.

Maeve,

I understand that, but the company isn’t going to outright say that’s why an employee is terminated. They’ll make up a reason, first.

50gp,

just talk about unions in non union job and you will be gone fast

Hello_there,

Apparently all you have to do is get photographed flipping off the presidential motorcade, and then tell HR about it.

EmoBean,

Look up employment lawyers on the work pc.

Kolanaki,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Get a doctor’s appoint on a Saturday, get approved for PTO that day, and then refuse to come in when they call you asking you to come to work while on your way to your doctor appointment.

Happened to me.

Gigan,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

Talk about starting a union?

Neato,
@Neato@kbin.social avatar

And then you can sue.

lemmefixdat4u,

This sounds promising. Just have to find what union would represent customer service reps.

I_Has_A_Hat,

callcenterworkersunited.org

Rednax,

That only works in the US. At my place they would aks if this new union is registered, so that they can help employees pay the union contributions tax-free.

conciselyverbose,

Start documenting all their OSHA violations lol.

Shadow,
@Shadow@lemmy.ca avatar

Ask for a raise. Tell them there’s no retirement plans because of inflation now, and she can see herself staying there another 10 years.

They might not lay her off because they know she’ll retire soon anyways. Increase her cost of employment so it’s no longer cost effective to just wait it out.

lemmefixdat4u,

I mentioned asking for a raise, but she countered that they would want her to jump ship.

I_Has_A_Hat,

Ok, and? The answer to that is “no, I’m not quitting”.

lemmefixdat4u,

I don’t see how asking for and not receiving a raise puts any more pressure on the company to surplus her. I agree with her that it would signal that she will quit if they don’t pay her more.

It’s all moot at this point, because it looks like she’s going to get disability for job stress related illness. At least that’s what she’s told me her doctor said.

iHUNTcriminals,

Does lemmy have an unethical life pro tips community yet? You’d probably get better results if we did.

Aremel,

We do, I just don’t know how to link to communities in lemmy.

Edit: Did this do anything?

LegionEris,

Works for me!

lemmefixdat4u,

Thanks for the effort!

Pons_Aelius,

Funny thing is I see nothing unethical in this request. Companies have no ethics that are not enforced by laws, so it is not unethical for employees to adopt the same behaviour.

EatYouWell,

What’s unethical is the unemployment process.

Drusas,

I really don't think there's anything unethical about this. They're going to be laying people off anyway; they may as well lay off someone it will hurt less.

commie,

automate her job. build a script that can do the job, and train her boss to use it. now she’s redundant.

Rentlar,

How about: Use AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII

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