Is Attendance Considered Misconduct?
The general definition of misconduct is ‘unacceptable or improper behavior’ by an employee. While each state has their own definition and laws on what constitutes misconduct, in terms of attendance cases, a helpful way to show misconduct is to document the final incident details and indicate that the reason for that absence was within the claimant’s control.
The state’s inquiry will investigate the causes of the absences and/or tardies in order to determine if the claimant will be awarded benefits or not. The state will need to determine whether or not the ex-employee had control or choice over the circumstances that caused them to be absent or tardy. A claimant can be awarded benefits if they are terminated from employment for circumstances that are outside their control.
The Key To Winning: Building a Strong Discharge Case
The employer has the Burden of Proof in a discharge case to show that the claimant was aware of the reasonable policy in place and wilfully disregarded it. Strong cases often have:
- a firsthand witness
- a signed company policy for the behavior
- prior warnings for similar behavior and proof misconduct occurred during the final incident
Overall, attendance cases are typically built on progressive disciplinary actions per your company’s attendance policy. Stick to the company’s policy that outlines what actions are taken by management after a certain number of occurrences have taken place, including verbal, written, and final warnings.
Thank you to our partner, Equifax, for providing this content.
