Some employers dishonest, too

Jan Quintrall’s Oct. 16 column decrying extending unemployment benefits to dishonest employees who are intent on defrauding the state lacked a balanced approach, as it only focused on employees who are dishonest and portrayed businesses as the sole victims of unemployment fraud.

As a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state of Washington for seven years, two of which were at the Spokane WorkSource office, I had the opportunity to serve many people who were defrauded by their employers of the unemployment benefits they justly deserved.

I witnessed employers with notorious court track records for employment discrimination fire employees for disability reasons, sexual orientation, age discrimination, personal vendetta and purely budget issues, and then trump up circumstantial or ridiculous “evidence” to avoid paying their fair share of unemployment benefits to these previously dedicated employees.

Other employers have sorry track records for firing a large number of people conveniently right before they were set to start receiving their benefits packages. These employers are often not held accountable because people without jobs to pay for attorneys are at a serious disadvantage against corporate attorneys on company retainer.

This is truly unfortunate, as there are just as many honest employers out there who go the extra mile to take care of their employees as there are honest employees who are dedicated to their jobs and employers, just trying to make a living and support their families.

A more balanced and just approach is required to truly fix the unemployment benefits conundrum, one which holds employees and employers equally accountable for playing fairly, responsibly and ethically.

Amy Knizek

Spokane