(Name changed for privacy; photo not the client)
After eight years of excellent job performance at a large insurance company, “Jean,” not her real name, had to take six weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) due to a serious medical condition.
While she was off from work, her husband walked out on her and their two teenaged girls, which sent Jean into a deep depression that required her to seek counseling. While she was in treatment for depression, she needed more time off, so she requested and received approval for intermittent FMLA leave that started in June 2022.
While struggling to get her personal life back on track, Jean was experiencing significant upheaval at work, as the company was engaging in major job restructuring. Her job duties expanded threefold within six months, and she was assigned several different managers during this time. By 2023, she was still taking intermittent FMLA leave for her depression, and her work began to suffer.
As a result, she received written warnings and job coaching, which had never happened to her before. After increasing her focus on her job performance, she was shocked when the company terminated her effective Jan. 10, 2024.
Jean immediately filed a claim with the Department of Economic Opportunities (DEO) for unemployment compensation benefits, now known as Re-employment Assistance benefits, and received two checks before being informed by the DEO that she was disqualified due to having engaged in “intentional” misconduct through her poor job performance.
Jean appealed this disqualification of benefits, and the DEO scheduled her for a telephone appeal hearing. She sought help from JALA, but with her intake appointment just a day before her scheduled hearing, all JALA attorney Edith Jones could do was to point out to her why poor job performance was not a reason for disqualification of benefits and to instruct her on how to represent herself pro se.
Jones told Jean what to expect at the hearing and fully prepared her for arguments the company might raise.
An hour after the hearing, Jean was thrilled to inform Jones that she had succeeded with the DEO Appeals Referee, as the hearing resulted in a reversal of the denial of her re-employment assistance benefits.
Jean, who has already received her back payments that had been suspended, is convinced that without JALA’s help she would not have been able to have these benefits restored.
About Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
Jacksonville Area Legal Aid is a nonprofit law firm focused on delivering economic, social, and housing justice to low-income and at-risk individuals and families on the First Coast.
If you are an attorney wanting to volunteer with probate and heirs property issues, contact JALA Pro Bono Director Aaron Irving, at (904) 356-8371, Ext. 363, or Aaron.Irving@jaxlegalaid.org.
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