Posted on March 10, 2010 by Tiffany Schmidt

Employees on Unpaid Suspensions May Qualify for Unemployment Compensation

Minnesota law provides, employees on an unpaid suspension for 30 calendar days or less, as a result of employment misconduct are not entitled to receive unemployment benefits.

However, in a recent unpublished Court of Appeals decision (pdf), the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development conceded, if an employee who was placed on an unpaid suspension during an employment investigation was later exonerated or the conduct did not amount to misconduct, the employee would not be disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits during the unpaid suspension.

Minnesota employers should keep this in mind when deciding whether or not to place an employee on a paid or unpaid suspension pending an employment investigation. A wrong decision could increase your unemployment insurance rating and cost your business more money.

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Posted on January 29, 2010 by Tiffany Schmidt

A Single Incident of Misconduct May Now Exclude an Employee From Unemployment Benefits.

 We all know the words, "You're Fired," but what does that mean for unemployment benefits.  Generally, employees who quit, are discharged for employment misconduct or are discharged because of aggravated employment misconduct are not entitled to receive unemployment benefits from the State of Minnesota. Of course, there are some exceptions to these rules.

One new change with respect to misconduct involves whether or not the employee was discharged due to a single incident, which did not have a significant impact on the employer. Previously, if an employee was fired for committing a single incident of misconduct which did not have a significant impact on the employer, the employee would have been entitled to receive unemployment benefits under Minnesota law. Single incidents used to be excluded from the definition of misconduct, however, that is no longer the case today.

In 2009, the Minnesota Legislature revised Minn. Stat. § 268.095, Subd. 6(d). A single incident of misconduct will now be considered an important factor in deciding whether or not the conduct rises to the level of misconduct, thereby excluding an employee from receiving benefits.

Now, employees are no longer guaranteed a free bite at the apple for an anomalous isolated incident which did not substantially harm their employer.

It is important for employers to keep these things in mind when responding to unemployment benefit claims filed by employees, because if you don’t raise the issue, the employee may be granted unemployment benefits they would not have otherwise been entitled to receive.

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