Can You Get Unemployment If You Get Fired In Texas

If you are fired (aka discharged, terminated) from your chore then one of your get-go acts in about all cases should be to apply for unemployment benefits. Applying for unemployment benefits through the Texas Workforce Committee is free so even if denied benefits you have but lost the fourth dimension applying. This is true even if your employer believes it had a legitimate reason to fire y'all.

The TWC has specific standards for awarding unemployment benefits. The employer's reason for terminating your employment may non meet those standards. Sometimes employers do not defend confronting an unemployment benefit application. You tin can receive benefits even if your former employer had a legitimate defense for terminating your employment that it could have raised but did not. It's an employer's brunt to defend their actions. Yous practise not accept to help them along past not applying.

Unemployment benefits and wrongful termination in Texas

Additionally, if you believe you accept legal claims against your employer related to your employment or termination so it is about always important to employ for unemployment benefits. This is true for two reasons. Get-go, you have a duty to mitigate your damages. That means if there are reasonable opportunities for you to minimize your lost wages, such as receiving unemployment benefits and looking for a new job, yous must have them. Second, when the employer raises a defense to your unemployment benefits the employer locks in a legal position why you were fired. This can be extremely useful to prevent the employer from irresolute its story when you lot file a lawsuit on your other employment claims. Ofttimes employers delegate responding to unemployment benefits to HR staff. They may inadvertently lock the employer into a weak defense.

How to apply for unemployment benefits in Texas

Unemployment benefits are administered by the Texas Workforce Commission, an agency of the State of Texas that handles unemployment benefits, anti-discrimination claims, wage claims and other labor bug nether state police. Y'all can find more information and begin the awarding procedure here.

I have 3 full general pieces of advice for your unemployment benefits application:

Apply for unemployment benefits early. If yous prevail on your awarding then you will receive benefits retroactively to your termination engagement. Start getting benefits as before long as possible so y'all tin can proceed current on your bills. If you look to utilize so you might end up blowing it off and not applying at all.
Exist honest about the facts. Don't lie about the facts. The folks who handle the TWC unemployment application hearings do information technology all day every 24-hour interval. They are probable to spot lies, specially if the employer has contradictory evidence. Yous may have to explicate a change in your description of events at a later point likewise. You may disagree with the employer's caption of the facts or disagree that the facts support their conclusion. That is fine. You should make that argument. Simply don't change facts to lies to support your statement.
Speak with an employment chaser if you have other potential claims. If you think you might have other claims, similar discrimination or unpaid wages, so you should talk to an employment chaser earlier filing an unemployment benefits claim to make sure your application will not cause problems for your other claims and that yous are presenting a strong position why the firing was illegitimate.