Here are 10 common reasons employers lose at unemployment compensation hearings:

1.    Not responding in a timely fashion to notices from an unemployment compensation service center.
2.    Assuming that benefits will be denied just because of a discharge.
3.    Not attending or not being prepared for a hearing.
4.    Not understanding that the burden of proof is on the employer.
5.    Failing to anticipate issues that might come up at the hearing.
6.    Getting bogged down in immaterial details.
7.    Failing to contradict the claimant’s theory of the separation.
8.    Failing to have corroborating documentary evidence.
9.    Focusing too much on “right” and “wrong,” instead of “proven” and “not proven.”
10.  Failing to show what the employer did in an attempt to preserve employment.
11.   Not showing why other employees who engaged in similar conduct were treated differently.

Reference: Allen Smith, JD (SHRM 5/11/2009)

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