What Is Considered Misconduct for Unemployment in Texas?

In Texas, misconduct for unemployment purposes means mismanaging your job through what you did or failed to do, neglect that endangers life or property, intentional wrongdoing, intentionally breaking a law, or violating a workplace policy meant to keep operations orderly and employees safe. If the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) finds you were fired for one of those reasons, you’re disqualified from benefits until you return to work for at least six weeks or earn six times your weekly benefit amount. With the maximum weekly benefit at $605, a misconduct finding can cost up to $15,730 in lost payments.¹

The Legal Definition

The definition sits in Section 201.012 of the Texas Labor Code and covers five categories: mismanaging your position through action or inaction, neglect that endangers someone’s life or property, intentional wrongdoing, intentionally breaking a law, and violating a workplace policy or rule meant to maintain order or safety.²

In practice, TWC applies a three-part test. The behavior must have caused a problem for the employer, violated a rule, policy, or law, and been something within the employee’s power to control or avoid.² All three elements have to be there. A mistake that hurt the company but broke no policy usually isn’t misconduct. A policy violation that caused no harm and was outside the employee’s control usually isn’t either.

The misconduct also has to be connected with your last work and close in time to the firing. An employer who tolerated the behavior for months and then suddenly used it as grounds for discharge has a weak case.³

What Does Not Count as Misconduct

Not every bad outcome qualifies, and this is where employers lose unemployment claims most often.

Inability to do the job is not misconduct by itself. If you were let go because you couldn’t grasp the work, never performed it well, or lacked the skill or training, the employer has to show more than that. They have to show you had the ability and chose not to use it.² Being bad at your job and deliberately slacking off are different things under Texas law.

The statute also carves out an exception: misconduct does not include an act done in response to an unconscionable act by your employer or supervisor.² If your boss ordered you to do something dangerous, illegal, or deeply unreasonable, your refusal may not count as misconduct even though you technically disobeyed a workplace directive. A single honest mistake or good-faith error in judgment also generally won’t qualify, as long as you were trying to do the right thing.

Attendance and Tardiness

Chronic absenteeism and repeated lateness are among the most common grounds employers cite, and they can qualify as misconduct. One late arrival or a day missed because your car broke down will not.

For an attendance case to stick, the employer generally needs three things: a clear attendance policy, proof the employee knew about it, and repeated violations after warnings. Written warnings, a final notice, and continued problems after those warnings make a strong case. Tolerating lateness for months and then firing the employee over the latest incident makes a weak one.³

Failing to call in makes things worse. Even with a legitimate reason for the absence, not notifying the employer when you reasonably could suggests disregard for their interests. If you were physically unable to call, that’s different. The standard is whether a reasonable person who wanted to keep the job would have found a way to communicate.

Insubordination

Refusing a reasonable work instruction can qualify, but the details matter more than the refusal itself. The employer has to show the directive was legitimate, within the scope of the job, and that the refusal was deliberate and unjustified.

A one-time disagreement with a supervisor over something ambiguous rarely rises to misconduct. Outright defiance, walking off an assignment, or hostile refusal to perform assigned duties, documented through written reprimands or witness statements, builds the strongest case. And if the directive was unsafe, illegal, or constituted an unconscionable act, refusing it is protected.²

Neglect of Duties

Failing to perform your job is a listed example of misconduct, but only “if you are capable of doing so.”¹ TWC draws a hard line between can’t and won’t.

A single missed deadline rarely meets the threshold. TWC looks for a pattern: repeated failures, ignoring safety protocols, or consistently falling short of expectations the employee understood and was able to meet. Written warnings, performance improvement plans, and records of conversations about the problem are what carry a neglect case. Forgetting a step once is ordinary negligence. Ignoring a procedure repeatedly after being warned is the kind of deliberate disregard TWC treats as misconduct.

Dishonesty and Theft

Theft, falsifying records, misrepresenting hours, and misusing company resources all fall within the statute as intentional wrongdoing.¹ Even small infractions can disqualify you if the employer proves intent. Padding a time sheet by 15 minutes or taking supplies home without permission falls under the same framework as larger theft.

The dollar amount doesn’t necessarily decide the outcome. What matters is intent and whether the employee knew about the policy they broke. The employer still has to prove the dishonesty actually happened. Verbal accusations without transaction records, surveillance footage, or signed policy acknowledgments generally won’t be enough.

Drug and Alcohol Violations

A positive test can be grounds for disqualification, but Texas sets specific evidentiary standards. Employers must produce a written drug policy the employee acknowledged in writing, proof the employee consented to testing under that policy, documentation showing the chain of custody of the sample was maintained, laboratory confirmation using the Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry method, and a result expressed as positive above a stated threshold.⁴

That’s a high bar. An employer who says only that “the employee tested positive” without the documentation chain often loses. Refusing a test required by a valid workplace policy can also be misconduct, even without a result. If the employer had no written drug policy, or you never signed an acknowledgment, that gap can work in your favor on appeal.⁴

Criminal Conduct Tied to the Job

Violation of law is a category of misconduct, but the crime has to connect to the job. Either it happened on the job, violated an employer policy, or directly impaired your ability to do the work.¹

A delivery driver who loses their license after a DUI may be disqualified because the conviction directly prevents them from doing the job.³ An office worker with a weekend speeding ticket probably won’t be, because the offense has no meaningful tie to their duties. Charges alone don’t trigger disqualification. The employer still needs evidence showing the behavior occurred and connecting it to the workplace. Workplace violence, fraud against the employer, and embezzlement are the clearest cases.

Workplace Disruption

Disruptive behavior qualifies when it crosses from occasional disagreement into a pattern that genuinely harms the employer’s operations. Repeatedly instigating conflicts with coworkers, spreading false information about management, encouraging others to ignore policies, or dragging down productivity can all meet the threshold.

Isolated incidents rarely do. Two coworkers arguing once isn’t misconduct. An employee generating repeated HR complaints, documented confrontations, and measurable drops in team performance gives the employer solid ground, especially with evidence the employee was warned and continued anyway.

Who Has to Prove It

The employer carries the burden. You don’t have to prove your innocence. They have to prove the misconduct, and because of that burden they present their evidence first in any hearing.

Specifically, the employer has to show that the discharge happened because of a specific act of misconduct connected to the work and close in time to the firing, and that the employee either knew or should have known the behavior could lead to termination.³ Vague complaints like “they had a bad attitude” or “it wasn’t working out” don’t carry a claim. Written warnings, signed policy acknowledgments, and specific dates and incidents do.

This is where many employers stumble. They fire someone for a real reason but produce no documentation at the hearing: no written warnings, no signed handbook receipt, no record of conversations about the problem. Without that trail, TWC frequently rules for the claimant.

What a Misconduct Finding Costs

A misconduct finding doesn’t bar you from benefits forever. The disqualification lasts until you return to work and either complete six weeks of employment or earn wages equal to six times your weekly benefit amount, whichever comes first.⁵

The math is simple. If your weekly benefit amount would have been $500, you’d need to earn at least $3,000 at a new job, or work six weeks, before you could collect anything. During the disqualification you get nothing, and those lost weeks don’t get added back later. With the maximum weekly benefit at $605 and the maximum payout at 26 times that amount, a misconduct finding can cost up to $15,730.¹

Challenging a Misconduct Determination

If TWC denies your benefits on misconduct grounds, you have 14 calendar days from the date the determination is mailed to file a written appeal. That deadline is strict. Miss it, and you generally lose the right to challenge the decision.⁶

Your first appeal goes to an Appeal Tribunal hearing officer. The hearing happens by telephone. Both sides present testimony, call witnesses, and submit documents, and the officer issues a written decision afterward.⁷ Most cases are won or lost here, so prepare as if it’s your only shot. Gather emails, text messages, performance reviews, the employee handbook, and anything showing you weren’t warned or that the employer’s account doesn’t hold up. If witnesses can back your story, arrange for them to be reachable by phone during the hearing. The employer carries the burden of proof, but staying silent or showing up unprepared hurts you anyway. Further appeals to the Commission and then to civil court are available if the hearing officer rules against you.

1
Texas Workforce Commission. Eligibility and Benefit Amounts
2
TEXAS GUIDEBOOK FOR EMPLOYERS. Unemployment Insurance Law – Qualification Issues
3
TEXAS GUIDEBOOK FOR EMPLOYERS. Uninsurable Drivers – Policy and Work Separation Issues
4
TEXAS GUIDEBOOK FOR EMPLOYERS. Drug Testing in the Workplace
5
State of Texas. Texas Labor Code 207.044 – Discharge for Misconduct
6
Texas Workforce Commission. File an Unemployment Appeal
7
Texas Workforce Commission. Introduction to the Unemployment Benefits Appeal Process