QUESTION
Will I receive Unemployment Benefits?
Asked on Aug 20th, 2015 on Labor and Employment - Virginia
More details to this question:
I was terminated from Wells Fargo. I was a Service Manager II, not required by my job description to be assigned to a teller drawer, but regardless I had been running a drawer for several months due to short staffing in our branch and to allow my Team to have lunch breaks. After a busy day, my teller drawer was out of balance, short exactly $1k. The following workday, I reviewed all my teller work and found the transaction where I believed the shortage occurred. A $1k check had been deposited into the customer's account instead of withdrawn when the customer made his mortgage payment. When I contacted the customer to notify him that an error occurred during his transaction and that I was going to correct it, the customer claimed a different story saying that he allegedly used all cash to pay for his mortgage. I assume this was to benefit the 1k for himself. An investigation took place, cameras reviewed, and results came back inconclusive. I was fired for violating policy.
1 ANSWER
In Virginia, you can still collect unemployment benefits unless you were fired for “misconduct.” The courts have defined misconduct as either a deliberate violation of a known company rule, or a series of smaller violations that show a “willful disregard” for the employer’s interests.
Your case would likely involve the first test. The Virginia Employment Commission will conduct a hearing to determine which company policy you violated, whether you knew about the policy, and how culpable you were in violating the policy.
The VEC’s decisions are very fact-specific in these cases. Please call us to schedule a consultation.
Answered on Aug 25th, 2015 at 8:05 AM