Follow-up on employee termination

I just got an email from Frank, a new reader of my blog. He has inspired me to post more often.

An update on the immediate prior post (which was over 9 months ago)...

Yes, firing that employee was a great thing to do. BUT, I should not have listened to my managers on the timing. The former employee filed for unemployment and in spite of performance write-ups, etc. she won unemployment benefits. We appealed and lost. It's frustrating that she is collecting on our account when she was terminated for cause, but the Commonwealth of Ky does not see it that way. In my state, apparently it has to be pretty much spelled out in black and white for them..."if you do [state infraction] again, you will be fired." Then they do it and you terminate them IMMEDIATELY. (If you don't terminate them immediately you are "accepting" the behavior so if you fire them after a delay, it's no longer termination for cause. What a bunch of crap!

Meanwhile, the former employee is working, but she's booth rental somewhere so she's not claiming any income and is still collecting on our account. Kentucky does not investigate unemployment fraud. If they did, I wonder how much we could help the budget problems we're having!

Anyway, the moral of the story is document, document, document (which I thought we had done). Spell it out clearly enough that he or she understands their job is at risk, then follow through promptly when they repeat the behavior. Disclaimer: your state may be different and I am by no means an expert in this area!