Unemployment Hearing Appeal?

Question

Myself and another Black supervisor was fired for not counting the safe at the beginning of our shifts. Im on 2nd & he's on 3rd shift..Now $400 is missing from what shift we don't know....The 3rd shift guy called me and advised of the missing money hours later. I had no idea what happened to it. No one from each shift signed the book to confirm the amount in the safe. However, the same morning, the 1st. shift white lead (intern suprvr) & the head manager were also working and neither one of them counted the safe either nor signed the book. The white guy admitted to not counting it.. Now $400 is missing among the 4 of us. Myself and the black supervisor were fired for "Breach of Duty'" while the white lead was only written up. The head manager did the investigation but I "suspected" that he took the money and he is now conducting the investigation that lasted 1 day. Now I was denied unemployment benefits due to the breach of duty paperwork forwarded by my manager... Im appelaing the decision. Can I win? I ask: why did the 2 brotha's get fired but nothing happened to the white guy or the head manager when they also didn't count the safe? Seems unfair policy practices.

Answer 1

If you are innocent and feel you have been treated unfairly...hire an attorney....next time I recommend if you have anything to do with money, do everything you are told

Answer 2

It's unfair policy but that has nothing to do with getting unemployment.  If it was your duty to count the safe at the beginning of your shift and you didn't do it, the company can fire you for cause and you will be denied unemployment.  It doesn't matter, from the standpoint of getting unemployment benefits, how many other people did or didn't break the rule about counting the safe or how many did or didn't get fired.  All that matters is that YOU broke a rule and from that standpoint alone, YOUR firing is justified.

Now .... do you want to try to claim that it was an illegal firing?  Then you need a lawyer.  Period.  Your state's bar association has a referral service that will give you the names of attorneys in your area who will do a free 30 minute consultation, or charge at most $25 or $50.  You can ask them for a referral to a lawyer who specialize in employment issues, or you can find one through your local yellow pages.

Here's the problem you're going to have, though:  For you to claim you were fired illegally, YOU have the burden of proving their illegal acts.  They don't have to prove anything, including their own innocence.  Both of the white guys on first shift told you verbally that neither one of them counted the safe.  Did you have witnesses to that conversation?  Do you have copies of the log books or registers or whatever records were used to record the counts?  You know what they told you.  But in court, the two of them could deny that they ever said such a thing to you.  That's why you need witnesses.  They can come into court with a copy of the book that has been changed to show that someone did count the safe.  If you don't have a verified copy from that day, you don't have any way to prove they're lying.

If all the facts are exactly as you state them, then you and the other black guy aren't the only people who should have been fired.  But that still won't help you with the unemployment.  Again, unemployment benefits are based only on whether or not YOUR firing was justified.  You broke a HUGE rule by not counting your safe, and that's why they were justified in letting you go.  Just think - if you HAD counted it like you were supposed to, you would have discovered that one of the white guys stole the money, you wouldn't have been fired, and the higher up management would view you as a hero for doing your job and catching the guys who were stealing from them.

Answer 3

And if you had done YOUR job like you were supposed to,  you would not have this question. But, as usual, blame the white guy because you were lazy.

Answer 4

Often we seek advice yet we already know the answer.

Answer 5

An unemployment hearing is not based on your color of skin. It is based on your job description and your duties and whether or not you did the job properly. It seems like this place is not properly counting their money at a regular basis. If you had worked at Wal Mart or some other reputable place, you would be responsible for counting the money on a regular basis and they also use cameras. You can appeal your case but you also need a lawyer too. You can appeal twice.