Last Hired, First Fired

March 21, 2011 7:13 PM

What happens if I get fired from my job in Chicago?

I work for a large company filling warehouse orders, which I started doing in October. Apparently, according to my 13 errors in four months, I suck at it. And by suck at it, I mean that I'm allowed a max of 15 errors per year. So, I feel fairly certain that I'll be canned if I can't get my sh*t together with this task.

What happens if I get fired?

Can those in the know talk to me about unemployment for the recently fired, resume issues, temping in Chicago, etc?

FWIW, I couldn't possibly care less about this job and about the likelihood of being fired. However, I do have to pay rent or my husband might kill me.

posted by anonymous to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I live in Chicago and have been laid off. Odds are you will be "laid off" as "fired" means the company feels they don't owe you unemployment. I'm not sure of the details, but you may not have even been there long enough to collect it. Contact IDES for details on what happens, what you need to do, etc. You'll want to get the ball rolling the same day it occurs as it can take a while to get your first payment from it.

Also, how about start looking for another job? Invest your energy in that and then deal with the firing if/when it comes. This clearly isn't the right fit for you.

Beyond that, take a deep look at why you are making the mistakes. If they have a limit per year that you are hitting in 4 months, something is not right. Especially if everybody else is able to do it just fine. Surely there are some safeguards you can put in place to stop yourself from making careless mistakes... Sorry, I really have to wonder if there are other circumstances though...
posted by Elminster24 at 7:30 PM on March 21, 2011

So the way federal unemployment insurance works (and this is usually copied identically by state unemployment payments) is that you get a percentage of your average total income over the previous two fiscal quarters. One of those quarters can be switched out for an "alternative earning period" of any fiscal quarter in the previous year if you didn't qualify for the minimum earnings in the two most recent quarters.

In 2009, the base rate for that percentage was half your weekly income up to $470.
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:24 PM on March 21, 2011

Unless they changed it, Illinois unemployment is based on the previous 4 quarters, minus the current one.

If that happens, go to the IDES website and fill out a claim online. Odds are you won't even have to step foot in an office. Go through the IL Skills Match and select every skill you think you could possibly do. It takes a long time to do, but it can lead to a decent job.
posted by gjc at 6:56 AM on March 22, 2011