Claimant Advocacy Case Studies: Tardiness with Insufficient Evidence of Misconduct
Our Claimant Advocacy Program helps workers in DC who have been denied an unemployment claim. This post is one part of a series of examples of how the Claimant Advocacy Program has helped past participants.
A local veterinarian clinic fired a veterinary assistant for excessive tardiness of less than ten minutes — despite the employer’s receipt of the employee’s doctor’s note related to treatment for the employee’s PTSD. The doctor’s note added that the claimant had insomnia that may cause her to be listless or late to work.
After the DC Department of Employment Services denied the employee’s unemployment benefits, the employee appealed and requested a hearing.
The court found that the employee had indeed been tardy. However, a Claimant Advocacy Program attorney successfully argued that the employee provided the employer with evidence of the claimant’s medical condition. Additionally, there was no evidence that the employee’s attendance pattern harmed the employer’s business interests.
The court found that the employee was not deliberately tardy, there was no harm to the employer’s business interest, and granted the employee’s claim for full unemployment benefits.
Have you been denied an unemployment claim in DC? Learn more about our Claimant Advocacy Program.