Question: We will be terminating an employee who’s been with us only a month. How do I ensure that they don’t get unemployment?
Answer: Unfortunately, unemployment insurance (UI) benefit claims can be difficult to contest. Most state unemployment departments will only deny benefits if the employee’s misconduct rose to the level of gross misconduct, like stealing or workplace violence.
Fortunately, however, the effect of a single UI claim on your state unemployment insurance tax rate is minimal to non-existent. More importantly, even if your UI rate increases, that additional cost is often less expensive than keeping an employee who shows no willingness or ability to improve. If you have documented employee performance expectations and the employee still isn’t meeting them, don’t let the possibility of a higher UI rate dissuade you from termination. If you’re worried about your UI tax rate generally, the best thing you can do is minimize turnover.
This Q&A does not constitute legal advice and does not address state or local law.
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UST maintains a secure site. This means that information we obtain from you in the process of enrolling is protected and cannot be viewed by others. Information about your agency is provided to our various service providers once you enroll in UST for the purpose of providing you with the best possible service. Your information will never be sold or rented to other entities that are not affiliated with UST. Agencies that are actively enrolled in UST are listed for review by other agencies, UST’s sponsors and potential participants, but no information specific to your agency can be reviewed by anyone not affiliated with UST and not otherwise engaged in providing services to you except as required by law or valid legal process.
Your use of this site and the provision of basic information constitute your consent for UST to use the information supplied.
UST may collect generic information about overall website traffic, and use other analytical information and tools to help us improve our website and provide the best possible information and service. As you browse UST’s website, cookies may also be placed on your computer so that we can better understand what information our visitors are most interested in, and to help direct you to other relevant information. These cookies do not collect personal information such as your name, email, postal address or phone number. To opt out of some of these cookies, click here. If you are a Twitter user, and prefer not to have Twitter ad content tailored to you, learn more here.
Further, our website may contain links to other sites. Anytime you connect to another website, their respective privacy policy will apply and UST is not responsible for the privacy practices of others.
This Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use for our site is subject to change.
