At one point or another a supervisor or a manager will unequivocally state that a former employee does not deserve unemployment benefits. They will profess that it is not about the money, it is the fact that the former worker’s actions were so egregious that he is unworthy of getting another dime from the company. Well, the good news is that the supervisor or manager may be in luck!
According to the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”), a former employee must meet certain requirements before collecting unemployment benefits. One of them is to show that he is no longer working due to no fault of his own, and the TWC will review the last incident before the end of his employment. If the employer terminated the former employee, then it must produce evidence to show that it was due to the claimant’s misconduct for the TWC to deny unemployment benefits.
What is misconduct? According to Section 201.012 of the Texas Labor Code, “Misconduct’ means mismanagement of a position of employment by action or inaction, neglect that jeopardizes the life or property of another, intentional wrongdoing or malfeasance, intentional violation of a law, or violation of a policy or rule adopted to ensure the orderly work and the safety of employees.” Furthermore, the TWC indicates that the employer must show that it terminated the former worker because of misconduct that happened closely to the discharge of employment. Also, the employer must prove that the claimant either knew or should have known that he could be terminated for that purpose.
Are there any times in which the employer can simply discharge an employee without first notifying him that he is in danger of losing his job? The answer is yes. When the claimant’s misconduct is so egregious that no reasonable employee could have believed that he would still be employed after committing the bad act, the employer can terminate the employee and he may be ineligible for unemployment benefits.
Last, a leader in upper management may believe that a former employee should not be entitled to collect unemployment benefits from the company. The employer can show proof that the reason that it terminated the worker was due to misconduct, then the TWC may deny unemployment benefits.
