I’ve been working for the same company for four years. In my first two years they incentivized us to obtain certifications. They were not required to maintain employment, and weren’t required for being hired as well. I obtained a couple certifications in an effort to learn more and hopefully increase chances of promotion. Eventually those certifications expired in the third year of my employment, and I did not renew them.
In the past year the department I work in created a guild consisting of people with the same job titles. Everyone with this job title was automatically recruited to this guild, including myself. In order to maintain membership to this guild you would need those certifications. If you didn’t have them then you would eventually be removed from the guild and lose certain permissions needed to do your job. Since I didn’t need those permissions to do my job, I decided not to get them.
At the end of last year our team got a new manager, and no one on our team gets along with them. This manager went to their senior manager, and brought up that I don’t have my certifications to maintain guild membership. The senior manager calls me up and tells me that I will get a PIP for not having my certifications. They then sent me an email giving me two months to get two certifications or else I’ll get a PIP. I took a test a couple weeks ago, barely failed, and scheduled to retake the test. Problem is I’ve missed their deadline for the first certification, and my manager said they will issue me a PIP.
Now I know a PIP doesn’t mean I’m getting fired, but it feels like they are out to get me no matter what at this point. I know for a fact that other members of the guild don’t have their certifications, and they have not been given the same deadlines I’ve been given to obtain them. I also know that employees outside of the guild have the same permissions guild members have even though they don’t have certifications. It feels like I’m being singled out here.
Question is, if I get fired, will I be able to collect unemployment in this situation?