In Texas, unemployment benefits are awarded to employees who lose their job through no fault of their own. That is the general rule. It is one area in Texas employment law where fairness carries some weight. The process starts when the employee files a claim for benefits. Texas Workforce Commission will then request a statement
unemployment benefits
Written Counseling is Critical
By Thomas J. Crane on
Posted in Discrimination, Unemployment Benefits
Written counseling is important. I have advised and represented small business owners. The best protection from a false claim is written counseling made at the time of the alleged infraction. Even the most basic workplace will have scratch paper somewhere. You as a manager need to include the basics: what the employee did wrong, when…
TWC Undermines Employee Claims
By Thomas J. Crane on
Posted in Unemployment Benefits
Texas Workforce Commission appears almost designed to undermine legitiimate employee claims for unemployment benefits. I receive one or two calls every year from recipients of unemployment benefits who were overpaid unemployment benefits through TWC errors and now, TWC wants their money back. TWC essentially tells them to pay it back or else.
One young…
TWC Official in Charge of Appeals Gives Advice to Employers
By Thomas J. Crane on
Posted in Unemployment Benefits
The TWC official in charge of appeals of unemployment claims gave advice to employers on how to "game" the system. Jonathan Babiak told employers at a conference in June that they should give employees the opportunity to quit instead of being fired. Some employees, he explained, would think they could not apply for benefits if…
Worker Loses Appeal for Unemployment Benefits
By Thomas J. Crane on
Posted in Termination, Unemployment Benefits
Frequently, employees call me and tell me with breathless excitement that the employer is violating some law, the caller knows it and then they pause. They seem to expect me to say, "well, then, ignore them" or "well, ok, then tell them to jump in the lake." …. No, we cannot say those things.
I…
Written Counseling is an Effective Defense
By Thomas J. Crane on
I talked about how employee handbooks are not a contract. That means an employer does not necessarily have to counsel an employee three times in writing before terminating that employee. But, a question that often comes up is why would an employer want to counsel an employee in writing? The most common reason…