Today was D Day

Or maybe I should call it “A” Day, for Appeal.

My regular readers know the background. For all of you relative newcomers, first: Welcome! Mighty glad to have ya! Here’s a quick summary of the facts:

My older daughter Christina was fired back in January. She worked as a medical technician in a specialist’s office. In an obvious attempt to avoid “chargeback” for her unemployment, the office manager claimed she was fired for misconduct. She appealed, and I represented her at the subsequent hearing.

In a word, we won. We proved to the Tribunal’s satisfaction that there was no misconduct. Thus Christina began receiving unemployment checks.

By the way, she was six months pregnant at the time, and has since delivered for me a BEAUTIFUL grandson named Trevor. My first grandchild. I have a few pictures posted at THIS WEB SITE. (Feel free to visit, and to “OOOH” and “AAAH” all you like. Yes, he’s VERY cute! Thanks for noticing. Oh, there’ll be more pictures before too long!)

But I digress. During that hearing I hammered her employer pretty hard. I made him out to be a liar, among other things. He didn’t seem to like that much. In fact, I guess I overdid it a bit because he appealed the tribunal’s decision back to the full Commission.

The case was on the docket today. There is a lot at stake!

Although Christina has been diligent in trying to find a job, nobody was willing to hire a lady who would obviously need some time off in the near future to have her baby.

Yeah, we all know that pregnancy discrimination is illegal. But get real! Her condition was obvious at the interviews, and there were no offers.

Thus she has been receiving benefits for 4 months now. This is money that she and her husband have needed very badly to pay the rent and other fixed expenses. If the Commission overturns the Tribunal, Christina will have to pay back all that money. We’re talking several thousand dollars; this is money she doesn’t have any more. It’s been spent!

We expect that she’ll find a job fairly soon, now that she’s just about completed recovery from her C Section. But we’re all experiencing some anxiety waiting for the decision.

If the Commission upholds the Tribunal, I think it’s over. The only further appeal is to the courts. That would involve the employer spending more money than the case is worth trying to prosecute it. If the Commission overturns the Tribunal, then Christina loses. I doubt she could find an attorney to take her case to court (with little money involved) on a contingency basis. If she paid one, it would cost more that the unemployment benefits have been!

The other possibility is a re-hearing, if the Commission feels some evidence was overlooked or there was a procedural error. That would just extend this anxiety out by another 3-4 weeks, and none of us wants that.

I KNOW you’re all dying to know the verdict, and I’ve been teasing you all along by not telling you. Okay, here it is.

I don’t know yet.

Well, OF COURSE I called Austin and asked! How could you think otherwise? But I was told in a very professional and sterile tone that “the decision will be mailed out either this afternoon or tomorrow. You should have it by this weekend. We don’t release that information over the telephone.”

Well, WHY NOT? It’s supposed to be a public record! Are they afraid that the telephone is not secure, and someone might find out?

Oh, well, rules are rules. And bureaucrats are supposed to follow rules. So I won’t know until Christina calls me in a few days. Grrrrrr. Nothing I can do about it. You’ll know the same day I do.

Maybe I should call today “F” Day, for “Frustration.”