If you’ve been fired for poor attendance, you might be concerned that this will also affect your chances of receiving unemployment benefits. Not all states have the same rules about what qualifies someone for unemployment, but it’s possible that getting fired due to your attendance may disqualify you in some states or reduce the number of benefits you receive. If your state has any guidelines regarding termination for poor attendance and its effect on unemployment benefits, they should be listed online on their website or in a document describing eligibility requirements. If not, you’ll need to contact them directly to find out whether getting terminated for poor attendance will hinder your chances of receiving benefits. Read on to learn how being fired for poor attendance may impact both future job prospects and unemployment benefits.
Can I Get Unemployment If I Get Fired For Attendance?
It depends on the reason for the firing and your eligibility for unemployment benefits. If you were fired for poor attendance, you may not be eligible for unemployment benefits. However, if you can show that you had good reason for your absences, such as illness or childcare issues, you may be eligible for benefits. It is best to contact your local unemployment office for more information on your specific situation.
Basics On Unemployment
- Unemployment benefits are designed to help people who have lost their jobs because of a lack of work or because the business they worked for has closed down. In order for you to receive unemployment benefits, you must have worked for a period of time in the past that will allow your employer to keep track of your employment history.
- You can claim unemployment benefits if you’ve been fired, laid off or quit while unemployed. If you’ve been fired due to poor attendance, this will not affect your eligibility for unemployment benefits if it was a reason that was listed in your termination notice as a reason for dismissal. However, if you were fired due to poor attendance but were not aware that it was listed as part of the reason that led to your dismissal, this could affect your eligibility and possibly reduce the amount of money you receive from unemployment benefits.
- Being dismissed due to poor attendance is considered “undesirable employment” and thus makes one ineligible for unemployment benefits in most states. However, there are some states where employers can dismiss employees without having written proof that these employees are at fault for their absenteeism and not just being lazy or disinterested in work (such as Alaska). Other states require employers to use some type of written form with an explanation detailing why employees have been dismissed from work due to poor attendance (such as in California).
- If you quit without giving notice and then apply for unemployment benefits after quitting, this may cause problems if you were fired due to poor attendance. In this case, employers are not required to fire an employee for having quit due to poor attendance. However, if you have been dismissed for absenteeism, the employer may have a legal obligation to notify you of this dismissal and inform you of your eligibility for unemployment benefits if it was the reason that led to your dismissal from work.
- If you’re fired because of poor attendance and then find another job within a short period of time, the new employer will likely impose a waiting period before they consider whether or not they will hire you. This can be anywhere from 90 days up to one year depending on how long it takes them to fill their open positions with qualified applicants. During this time period, you may be eligible for unemployment benefits since there’s no guarantee that your new employer will hire someone who has been dismissed from work due to poor attendance and who is still unemployed.
How Poor Attendance May Affect Future Job Chances
- Firing for poor attendance is considered “undesirable employment” and thus makes one ineligible for unemployment benefits in most states. However, there are some states where employers can dismiss employees without having written proof that these employees are at fault for their absenteeism and not just being lazy or disinterested in work (such as Alaska). Other states require employers to use some type of written form with an explanation detailing why employees have been dismissed from work due to poor attendance (such as in California).
- If you quit without giving notice and then apply for unemployment benefits after quitting, this may cause problems if you were fired due to poor attendance. In this case, employers are not required to fire an employee for having quit due to poor attendance. However, if you have been dismissed for absenteeism, the employer may have a legal obligation to notify you of this dismissal and inform you of your eligibility for unemployment benefits if it was the reason that led to your dismissal from work.
- If you’re fired because of poor attendance and then find another job within a short period of time, the new employer will likely impose a waiting period before they consider whether or not they will hire you. This can be anywhere from 90 days up to one year depending on how long it takes them to fill their open positions with qualified applicants. During this time period, you may be eligible for unemployment benefits since there’s no guarantee that your new employer will hire someone who has been dismissed from work due to poor attendance and who is still unemployed. In some states, such as California, employers are required to notify you of this waiting period before they consider hiring you.
- If you quit without giving notice and then apply for unemployment benefits later on, your claim will likely be denied because the state has determined that your employment was dismissed due to poor attendance (if the state in which you live has such a law) and not simply because of laziness or disinterest in work.
- If you quit without giving notice and then apply for unemployment benefits after quitting, this may cause problems if you were fired due to poor attendance. In this case, employers are not required to fire an employee for having quit due to poor attendance. However, if you have been dismissed for absenteeism, the employer may have a legal obligation to notify you of this dismissal and inform you of your eligibility for unemployment benefits if it was the reason that led to your dismissal from work.
Will You Be Disqualified From Receiving Unemployment?
- In some states, such as California, employers are required to notify you of the waiting period before they consider hiring you. This waiting period is automatically two weeks.
- Regardless of what state you live in, if you quit without giving notice and then apply for unemployment benefits after quitting, this may cause problems if you were fired due to poor attendance (if the state in which you live has such a law) and not simply because of laziness or disinterest in work.
- In addition to the above reasons for not being eligible for benefits when fired due to poor attendance, there are stricter rules when your employer directs that no one be hired until a certain date unless there’s a good reason why this was necessary. If a company has posted that they’re only hiring certain types of candidates and then fires all employees who fell into these specified categories but doesn’t provide actual reasons why they were dismissed (which could include poor attendance), these individuals will likely not be entitled to receive unemployment benefits until their final day of work at the company. These types of dismissal rules are usually referred to as “no-hire” policies or “no-hire” provisions since employers don’t have any obligation to hire anyone until that date even though it may appear that all candidates were treated equally.
- It’s important to note that even if your employer hasn’t posted strict conditions regarding who can be hired and who cannot during this time period while an existing employee is departing on poor behavior, those conditions will likely be applied to you. If your employer has a no-hire policy and you have quit without giving notice of your poor attendance, the no-hire provision will likely apply to you.
- Finally, in some states (such as California), there is an automatic disqualification period that applies in these situations even if no such automatic disqualification period exists in your state. You can learn more about this here: “California’s Disqualification for Benefits for Ex-Employees Whose Firing or Job Loss Occurred Due to Poor Attendance”.
How Poor Attendance May Lead To A Disqualification
- Regardless of whether the employer specifies that all candidates are to have equal opportunity for employment, the employer may still have a no-hire policy in place for those candidates that meet or exceed a certain threshold regarding attendance. This is especially true if your employer has posted a no-hire provision as part of their hiring process and if your poor attendance is likely to lead to you not being hired.
- Another thing to remember is that even if there isn’t an explicit no-hire provision, it’s possible (albeit unlikely) that the employer could still have such a policy in place without putting it in writing, verbalizing it verbally or sending out any written communication regarding who can or cannot be hired during this time period while an employee who’s been fired due to poor attendance is departing on bad behavior. Again, this sort of discretion on behalf of the employer would only be applied if these circumstances arise.
- Finally, even if such a no-hire policy has been put in place with respect to specific candidates, you may still be denied unemployment benefits should you quit without giving proper notice and then apply for benefits yourself though you’ve been fired due to poor attendance after refusing your employment contract. In California, there is an automatic disqualification period of 2 weeks as described above as well as specific language regarding individuals who will not qualify for unemployment benefits based on “no-hire” provisions should they quit without notice: “California’s Disqualification for Benefits for Ex-Employees Whose Firing or Job Loss Occurred Due to Poor Attendance”. Regardless of whether your employer has a no-hire provision in place, you do have the right to quit without notice if you’re experiencing significant workplace mistreatment or harassment and you’re being harassed for being poor at attendance, etc.
Bottom Line
Getting fired for poor attendance is never good, but there are steps you can take to move past this unfortunate incident. If you were fired for poor attendance, you’ll want to seriously consider how you’re going to improve this aspect of your life. You may want to look into an employer’s attendance policy to understand what is considered an excessive absence and what steps you can take to avoid being fired. If you’re currently employed, it’s best to try to improve your attendance before getting fired, as you’ll have a much harder time proving the incident is connected to your illness. If you’ve been fired for poor attendance, don’t worry. You can still find new employment if you’re willing to put in the effort to improve your situation.
