Eligible for unemployment...Quit..is this good cause in NJ

[justlukin]

I just completed my examiner interview via telephone with the NJ unemployment office.....Im not really sure if I qualify for the benfits...I would actually rather work than collect, so I am looking for a comporable job.
I worked at a large health ins company responding to correspondance and processing claims. employees were monitired for work production and quality.
assigments are handed out from easy to difficult to nearly impossible...and for the last 6 months my assignments were nearly impossible to complete...always working on them and doing my follow up...but could never "close" it out due to waiting on tech. or the medical director or some other outside source out of our control..we only got credit for work that we have "closed out" because all the work that was given to me was so involved...I could only close out about average 40-75% for the last 6 months...mind you, the first 6 years of my employment I was a top contributor with 140% production and excellent quality. my boss was a complete you know what...she does not like me at all...so while all my other team mates received all the easy work and making production...here I am getting all the impossible assignments, not meeting standards...now I am looked at as a "low contributor" even though I busted my butt day in and day out. I was pullled in a conferance room and disciplinied for the lower production and told that I was in jeaporday of losing my job..I received 2 warnings that day. I knew that I was not going to be able to get the production up as I had been literally BEGGING for work that would off-set the other stuff......so I actaully just walked out the next business day becxause I new I would be fired at the end of the month for another bad month on production. sorry so long.....but can anyone tell me if quitting before I would be fired allow me to collect unemployment until I found another job?

[Beth3]

so I actaully just walked out the next business day becxause I new I would be fired at the end of the month for another bad month on production. sorry so long.....but can anyone tell me if quitting before I would be fired allow me to collect unemployment until I found another job? No.

Had you waited to be fired, you almost certainly would have been eligible for unemployment benefits but since you chose to voluntarily reason, I would be extremely surprisd if the State granted benefits.

[cbg]

This did not happen in your state, but it happened in a state that is more liberal than yours in granting benefits.

I had an employee that walked off the job in the middle of her shift. We were planning to term her the following day (her reason for walking off the job was not as good as yours, not that walking off the job is ever fully justified). She figured out that she was going to be fired and submitted her letter of resignation, by fax, that evening. Then she applied for unemployment on the basis that she was going to be fired anyway. When the UI commission contacted me, I provided them with a copy of her resignation letter.

The UI commission out and out told her that if she'd waited to be fired she'd have gotten benefits, but that since she resigned she was out of luck. They disqualified her for benefits.

It's quite unlikely that you will qualify. In the very large majority of cases, you have to have been subjected to ILLEGAL behavior before you can quit and still receive unemployment.

[justlukin]

Originally Posted by Beth3

so I actaully just walked out the next business day becxause I new I would be fired at the end of the month for another bad month on production. sorry so long.....but can anyone tell me if quitting before I would be fired allow me to collect unemployment until I found another job? No.

Had you waited to be fired, you almost certainly would have been eligible for unemployment benefits but since you chose to voluntarily reason, I would be extremely surprisd if the State granted benefits.

Thanks for the info......I think that I would have been mortified at the end of the month after they calculate the numbers and then send up the security guards to escourt you out in front of 100+ people. I was already embarrassed because my boss tells everyone (including my co-workers) my business and talks about me and my production so everyone in the whole office can hear.....she even approached the girls that I am friends with at the office that I quit because she had to dicipline me for my production....there was no privacy in that place..so for the last year of being mildly embarrassed and talked about...I wanted to save face just a little and not have being fired on my record.....

[justlukin]

It's quite unlikely that you will qualify. In the very large majority of cases, you have to have been subjected to ILLEGAL behavior before you can quit and still receive unemployment.[/quote]

thanks so much for your input...I wont hold my breath for the mail notification then...nor will I bother to appeal it. I have interviews after the holidays..so hopefully I can get working again b4 I depleat my emergency funds.

[CurtJ.]

I agree with previous posters that NJUI will most likely deny you benes. That is, unless the company admits it was going to term you anyway.

But, I disagree with one thing abotu walking off the job:

Originally Posted by cbg

(her reason for walking off the job was not as good as yours, not that walking off the job is ever fully justified).

Walking off the job is always fully justifed, so I don't understand the above comment. I mean a job is exchange of a person's labor for pay. Ever since slavery was abolished, people in the usa were free to withhold labor. maybe they don't get paid after whitholding labor, but a person, any person, has to be free, and wholly justified, to decide what they want to do with their body. It may cause problems for the employer. It may be unprofessional, it may leave clients in the lurch, the employee may not get a good reference, etc., but we're all completely justified in deciding not to work. we have to be.

just an observation to all.

curt j.

[justlukin]

thanks curt j...I agree that I was totally justified walking off...I feel that if a person feels strongly enough, it is warranted and my right to do so. Did I burn a bridge in that manner, yes I did. but since my employment was not a jail sentance or prison (however much it did feel that way at times) I should be able to come and go if I feel the need.
In my case....I did weigh in the employers immediate affects of my parting.
we were overstaffed to begin with, so that did make my decision much easier in terms of guilt.

Thank you for that feedback....Im glad someone understands!!!

[cbg]

Curt, I don't disagree with you. I've mentioned myself, quite recently and more that once, that slavery has been abolished. But at the same time, there is a certain ethical principle involved. We hear a great deal from employees complaining about employers, and a certain percentage of employers complaining about employees. It has always been my take that when there is a conflict, the one who is in the stronger position is the one who fulfilled all the expectations on him, even if the other party did not. Example; we see many posts from employees complaining that the employer is holding their pay until the employee returns x equipment. My response to such posts is that while the employer is in the wrong, the preferred way of handling things is to simply return the required equipment. THEN, if the employer still does not release pay, the employee is able to work from a position of strength; HE fulfilled all the requirements; HE did everything legally and by the book; the employer has no high ground to stand on and there is no standoff.

In this instance, an employee who stayed on the job and finished the shift would be in a stronger position when it comes to negotiations, than one who walked off the job mid-shift. That's wnat I meant.

[CurtJ.]

CBG-

You're absolutely correct on the level you mention. Everything being equal, people should treat one another with respect and act professionally, or at least decently, and not leave another person in the lurch. And of course, you and everyone not only knows slavery was abolished, but we also all agree that's a good thing. I'm not suggesting that anyone here would argue for slavery.

Instead, what I'm suggesting is that in virtue of that abolishment, and in light of what great premiums this country places on individualsim, pursuit of liberty and happiness, etc., that walking off a job simply to exercise your right to withhold labor is beyond normal, run-of-the-mill workplace agita. It must always be reasonable and just and proper, otherwise all that other stuff in the Constitution is degraded and sullied.

Company won't issue a paycheck cuz it thinks employee took something? well, we can argue, but you're right that a lot of that answer would be who messed up worse. Didn't get a raise cuz you were mouthy at an after-hours party? Again, reasonable people can differ about the outcome. However, I think everyone must agree, based upon the underpinnings of this country and our Constitution, to hold it inviolate and pure, that a person needs no reason to fully "just" in walking off a job without notice. It must be for our notion of freedom to exist, in a philosphical sense. And I'd love to tell you that this doesn't need to be a two way street, since employers and companies aren't protected under the Constitution, but I can't tell you this since they get to fire for any reason or no reason, or even a mistaken reason, with no notice at all.

well, whatever, just rambling about a deeper meaning to walking off the job.

curt j.