Human Resource Blog

Released vs Laid off

	Termination
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With regards to the division of unemployment office, what is the difference between reporting a former employee as being ‘laid off’ or ‘released due to inability to perform requirements of job’? It doesn’t sound to me like this would effect the determination of unemployment benefits.

Thank you.

Thanks for an excellent question! An employee who is \’laid off\’ is terminated because the employer does not have enough work for him or her. The employee is competent, and could perform the work if it was available. Employees who are laid off are almost always entitled to unemployment benefits. It is fairly common for employees to be terminated for this reason.

When an employee is \”released due to inability to perform the requirements of the job,\” this basically states that the employee is incompetent or was terminated for performance issues. It is the same as being fired. For example, a newspaper reporter who had very poor spelling and grammar skills, would fall into this category. Essentially the employer is saying that they have work available, but that this employee is incapable of performing the minimum duties of the position. Many employers would categorize employees who were not able to get to work on time, or had excessive absenteeism, in this category. It is unusual for an employee to be terminated for this reason. An employee who is terminated due to inability may not be eligible for unemployment benefits. In some cases, the unemployment specialist may rule that the employees poor performance was beyond his or her control. In other cases, as in tardiness, the unemployment specialist may determine that the employee did have control over this, and therefore is not eligible for unemployment benefits.

Please note that unemployment benefits are state laws, and the forms — and eligibility — vary from state to state.