When to Fight Your Ex-Employee's Benefits Claim

A reader sent in the following question recently in regards to an ex-employee's benefits claim:

"A couple of weeks ago, I fired one of my employees. I made it clear that her firing was 'for cause' -- she kept coming in late every day, wasn't meeting her deadlines and refused to follow orders. She said she was going to talk to a lawyer about suing my company for discrimination, as she was, at the time, our only female employee, but so far she hasn't done so. Last week, I received a notice from the state unemployment compensation people asking me if I want to challenge this ex-employee's claim for benefits. According to the notice, she claims that her employment with me was terminated 'without cause,' which is absolutely not true. I don't care if she gets unemployment benefits -- frankly, it's worth paying the higher premiums to get rid of her -- but I don't want her to be getting benefits under false pretenses, if she's not otherwise entitled to them. I'm also afraid that if I don't challenge her version of the facts, she may use my failure to respond as evidence against me if she decides to sue me for discrimination. Should I challenge her application for unemployment benefits?"

Generally, when a person is out of work, he or she is entitled to claim unemployment benefits from the state. When a company hires its first employee, it usually registers for unemployment compensation with the state department of labor and makes regular payments into the state compensation system, just like insurance. Also like insurance, the more claims your ex-employees make for benefits, the higher the "premium" payments you have to make into the system.