Nothing on this page is advice about your job, and no article can be. If you want your own facts looked at, a Minnesota employment attorney can do that — and several of the deadlines described on this site are short enough that waiting is itself a decision.
Also called: misconduct; discharged for misconduct.
Employment misconduct means any intentional, negligent, or indifferent conduct, on the job or off the job, that is a serious violation of the standards of behavior the employer has the right to reasonably expect of the employee.
Minn. Stat. § 268.095, subd. 6(a). Paragraph (b) then removes ten categories from the term, among them “simple unsatisfactory conduct,” inefficiency or inadvertence, inability or incapacity, “good faith errors in judgment if judgment was required,” and absence because of illness with proper notice. Paragraph (d) makes a single incident “an important fact that must be considered.” And paragraph (e) closes it: “The definition of employment misconduct provided by this subdivision is exclusive and no other definition applies.” Being fired for cause and committing employment misconduct are not the same finding.
Where this comes up
- Minnesota Unemployment: Being Fired Does Not Disqualify You, and the First Hearing Is the Only One You Get
- Quitting Does Not End Your Unemployment Claim in Minnesota — the Legislature Wrote Ten Exceptions Into the Same Sentence That Creates the Disqualification
- Was My Firing Illegal? Minnesota's Honest Answer Is Usually No, and the Exceptions Are a Short, Specific List
Sources checked September 8, 2026. Citations independently verified against the primary source September 8, 2026.