Employee Asked to be Laid Off?

Let’s say you have an employee who has been taking some classes outside of work. Since starting the coursework, her attendance and performance have suffered greatly. She recently came to you and acknowledged that she could not keep up with work and her course-load. She has decided that she will no longer be able to work. She has asked you to lay her off so that she can qualify for unemployment benefits. Should you honor her request?

If an employee asked to be laid off so they could attempt to receive unemployment benefits, we would advise against it. A company should only lay off an employee when there is truly a lack of work for a given position. If you intend to hire another employee for that position once she leaves, for example, it would be inaccurate to call it a lay off and could expose your company to charges of unemployment insurance fraud.

In this case, it does not sound like this is a situation where there is a lack of work. Instead, it is the employee’s personal obligations that are causing her to be unable to meet her current job requirements. Calling this situation a lay off is not only untrue but could create additional expense and risk for the company. If you were to lay her off and she was able to collect unemployment benefits, your unemployment insurance rate would likely be negatively affected.

If you would like to have this employee return to her current position after her class ends, you could consider offering her an unpaid leave of absence. Taking time to complete outside schooling is not a protected reason for leave, so you are not required to offer her this option. Unless you decided to offer her an unpaid leave of absence, it sounds like you would need to accept this employee’s statement that she will no longer be able to work for you as a resignation.

For more information, contact GTM at (518) 373-4111.