Dealing with great employees is a great experience.
Dealing with problematic employees is a nightmare of record keeping and due diligence processes that gobble up vast amounts of time and energy.
Granted, different States have different rules, policies, and procedures.
Take New York State for instance, the amount of paperwork required is staggering.
An employer contesting an unemployment claim in New York is seldom successful.
One of my VIP clients went through a very traumatic situation with an employee a few months ago when the business was coming back online after a 7 month shutdown due to the Pandemic.
Unemployment benefits at that time with the combined State amount and the Federal add-on was about 50k a year. Like many people in NY, the benefit was much more than the employee’s income.
Surprise, surprise, the employee did not want to come back to work when the business re-opened. He created quite an obnoxious scene in the business as he refused to return to work.
The employee was successful in his attempts to stay on unemployment, causing huge problems for his employer.
My client and I talked about the best course of action and decided to contest the benefit. It came down to doing the right thing since at the end of the day, there is very little benefit for the employer.
The owner kept great records and exercised their right to contest the benefit. Both sides attended a hearing and presented their case. A bit unusual, the Labor Board ruled in favor of the business owner, but, not surprisingly, a Judge overturned the decision in favor of the employee.
The Labor Board then rescinded the Judge’s ruling and ruled in favor of the employer with huge consequences for the employee.
The employee has to pay back thousands of dollars, and is barred from collecting unemployment for several years into the future.
Everything came down to the facts of the case.
The lesson here is to always do the right thing for the right reason, and keep great records.
It always pays off, and occasionally in a huge way.
The world is a little better place, one business owner at a time.
Remember, you only get results if you take immediate action on your ideas!
