Q: I need to let an employee go, and I’m wondering if it is better if I fire her or let her resign. Would it help her with unemployment benefits if I do one instead of the other?
A: We recommend that schools take the action that is most appropriate based on the facts, without considering the unemployment consequences in any way, as unemployment benefits are wholly outside of the school’s control. We suggest this for two primary reasons:
1. Once you start worrying about unemployment, COBRA, or any of the other possible consequences of the termination decision, you are straying into dangerous waters, as you are letting factors influence your decision that have nothing to do with a factual analysis of whether or not the person can do the job you need them to do. All other factors are (or should be) irrelevant to your decision-making process.
2. Despite what any “common knowledge” or “folk wisdom” might suggest, you can never really know how the unemployment department is going to decide a case – and there is no use in trying. Determination of unemployment benefits comes down to specific facts in specific cases. All that you can and should focus on is articulating for the employee (and the unemployment department, as may be necessary) what action you are taking, and why you are taking it. Thus, you are living by the adage, “just the facts.” As long as you are clearly communicating what is being done, you are doing your job to the fullest. The unemployment department will take it from there, and the system will work as it is intended.
