Virginia granted unemployment benefits

Our client worked for the federal service for 30 years. His agency terminated his employment for issues relating to reporting of time and attendance and misuse of a government cell phone. The Virginia Employment Commission initially denied our client’s application for employment benefits because he was terminated for misconduct. We successfully convinced a hearing officer that the time and attendance discrepancies were related to medical absences, which were timely reported to the Agency, and that the other alleged misconduct was not willful. The hearing officer reversed the initial decision and awarded our client unemployment benefits.