Update: Lost my unemployment hearing.
Just a quick recap, employee missed a mandatory meeting. employee had other infractions prior, but this was final straw for employer. Employee claims was never notified of this meeting. We were able to establish that 1. the meeting was scheduled for same day/time/place as it had been for last 9 months; 2. schedule wasn't changing till the next week; and 3. employee replied to the email of schedule change saying it was good with employee's schedule
Opinion, which overturned prior ruling and conferred benefits, said that trier of fact found employee's testimony credible because by replying to the email about the schedule, it shows employee was confused about the schedule. (I kid you not, that's what it says). Literally, the reply was, "Okay, sounds good to me" and trier of fact interpreted that to mean that employee was legitimately confused about the schedule change.
I'm not shocked we lost, since the bar is so high, but I'm pretty shocked our "smoking gun" ended up being the piece of evidence that won it for the other side. I can't think of one thing I would have done differently to change the outcome.
Fwiw, I just found out yesterday that employee's sister-in-law is a state congressman...from this district...and may have/possibly knows the trier of fact from prior employment. Not saying it's rigged, but you know, yeah....
No reason for us to appeal either imo. Opinion is written (incorrectly), but soundly. Entire opinion was based on testimony and credibility, so I can't see how we could overturn it for abuse. GG us.
I guess you win some you think you should lose and you lose some you think you should win
edit: Just so I don't sound so heartless, we found out employee was fraudulently billing after termination. Had been double billing days employee wasn't actually present, which happened to overlap with the day employee missed. Wasn't allowed to bring it up at hearing, obviously, since it technically wasn't the reason employee was terminated (found afterwards). Employee is a truly ****ty person who caught a seriously technically lucky break here is all.
Last edited by xdeuceswild81xx; 09-06-2017 at 08:33 AM.