Unemployment denied, I appealed, employer did not show for appeal, I told my story...

[rystew2040]

I applied for unemployment a couple of months ago and my employer either denied my claim or never contacted unemployment. Either way, my claim was denied. I appealed. I had my appeal hearing today and noone representing my employer was present at the healing nor had they contacted the appeal tribunal. I told my story, the gist of which is this - My job changed from salary to commission only pay. The employer did notify us of this. I stayed with the job under the impression that it would benefit me and I would make more money. What ended up happening is that we would close an account like always and the commissions earned would go into a "pool." Out of that "pool" we would recieve 10% of the total commissions earned per pay period. Example, if we had earned $1,000 in commissions, we would only recieve $100 per paycheck. Needless to say, I was not happy with this and for three months I was literally taking home under $100 per paycheck. This provided a tremendous financial burden. I spoke to my supervisor and repeatedly told them that I was not making ends meet and asked if there was a way I could recieve all of my commissions at the time the commissions were earned. He steadfastly said NO! I then asked permission to get another part time job then so that I could afford to live. He said no and that it was against company policy to work for another company. I told him that I really needed to do something or my finances were going to suffer. He said I could either quit or be terminated. I chose to quit so that it would not have a negative impact on future employment opportunities.

Anyway, I explained all of this in the appeal meeting. I was then told that only my side was going to be considered because my employer did not participate. I am now supposed to hear back from unemployment with an official decision. Any idea what I should expect? I would assume that they will rule in my favor but I'm not sure.

[LaborLawNJ]

Basically, they have to rule whether you quitting was justified under the circumstances.

Since the employer did not appear I would expect a favorable ruling, however, you may be subject to a penalty period.

Good Luck.