Coronavirus Update 8-30-21: Vaccine mandates and unemployment compensation

By Jon Hyman on August 30, 2021

DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB

As the mandates are increasing and the “deadlines” fast approach, YOU SHOULD NOT QUIT YOUR JOB. Do not be fooled if your boss says you must resign. Make your boss fire you and do not sign anything or agree to anything that says otherwise. Do not agree with “voluntary resignation.” If you are fired, you are eligible for unemployment. Anything else and you are not.

–americasfrontlinedoctors.org

This statement, variations of which are making the rounds on social media and elsewhere online, is very, very wrong (at least in Ohio).

An employee fired for declining a vaccine mandate (for a reason other than a bona fide medical or religious excuse) is not eligible for unemployment.

WKYC went right to the source, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, to verify.

According to ODJFS: “Someone who was terminated for cause (violation of company policy, for example) would not be eligible for unemployment insurance. Each application for unemployment is reviewed to determine eligibility based on the specific details of the situation.”

So we can verify that no, in Ohio you cannot get unemployment if you quit or were fired for not getting a COVID-19 vaccine and your employer required it as part of company policy.

It’s no different than an employee who violates any other work rule or company policy (attendance, insubordination, theft. etc.).

As for America’s Frontline Doctors (a radical right-wing group of anti-mask and anti-vax physicians), I’ll make them a deal. I’ll stay in my lane and won’t give out medical advice if they stay in theirs and don’t give out legal advice.

* Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

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