Who ever said (in reference to meeting life’s challenges), “Showing up is half the battle” must have been familiar with the unemployment compensation process.
Potential clients frequently ask me to assess the strength of their willful misconduct case. Unfortunately, some who ask are not entitled to benefits.
If a potential client is not likely to win his case- even with my help, I give him one piece of free legal advice: SHOW UP TO YOUR HEARING!
This is because in Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County, Delaware County, and Chester County, the employer has the burden of proving that the former employee committed the act of willful misconduct.
If you show up to the hearing and your former employer does not, your former employer will be unable to prove its case against you. Meaning, you may win automatically!
Don’t think that this is a rare occurrence. My experience has shown that 1 out of 5 employers do not show up to the hearing. When that happens, I get my clients a favorable determination within 10 minutes.
Stay tuned for a future blogs where I will tell you how to anticipate whether your former employer will actually show up to the hearing and what to do if your former employer doesn’t show up to the hearing.
