wrongful dismissal from employment?
The day ago I was fired from my job after 5 years. I was fired for "walking off" the job because I left at my scheduled time to leave. One week prior I had a discussion with my boss about the days i could not work overtime because I had no babysitter. He agreed saying "That'll be no problem.". Three days later, half an hour before I had to leave, his boss told him to tell me that if i left i would loss my job. thats hardly enough time to find someone to care for my toddler. The next day i came in ready to work and the boss' boss fired me.
Ive been reading a bit and I think I can sue them. I dont know if I wanna do that I just want unemployment. As a representative of the company my supervisor entered into a verbal contract letting me leave aat the end of my shift, the day in question. Another company representative tried to change the terms of that verbal contract leaving me an unreasonable time limit to even consider the change. I am not required to agree with this change, so i left when our previous aggrement was to leave. They broke the contract by firing me the next morning.
Can I sue? Will I be able to collect unemployment? If I have to sue I will but I would figure it would cost more than its worth. If I sued could I ask the court for an extensive investigation into the workplace safety of this company,?
Update:I did have a contract with the company at that time. It was a verbal one that i had to leave after my shift was done. There was no known over time the day i talked to my supervisor, and he doesnt deny allowing me to leave. Another boss fired me not mine.
Comments
if you are in the US you can not sue and win.................
unless you have a contract that states otherwise you are employed "at-will".
without a contract that was breached or an illegal reason for the termination (such as discrimination) there is NO such thing as "wrongful dismissal".
the issue you have is did the employer have "cause" to terminate you? it is legal to fire you, and to do so without cause but with no cause you MAY be eligible for unemployment.
as far as unemployment is concerned you stand a good chance...............
you can and should file.
Yes, they can fire you. And yes, you are eligible for unemployment benefits. However, you can use the "oral" agreement to get severance. Write a letter stating the agreement you had with your supervisor. Mail it to the supervisor, the company representative, and the corporate office. State that you did nothing wrong and abided by the oral contract. Cite anything in your employee handbook that supports your case. Right-to-work state or not, you are a victim of wrongful discharge. Give them a choice of reinstating you or one month's salary for every year you worked as well as benefits for 6 months.
An employment lawyer will write the letter for you for around $75.00 or less.
Usually just the threat of a lawsuit will get you something.
Also find out if others in your company have had the same problem and been fired OR if others are allowed to work under the same conditions as you were and weren't fired.
Good Luck.
Usually just the threat
You did not say what state or country or where you work. In a right to work state like VA, they can fire you without cause and you can leave without cause.
You keep using the term contract, do you have a written job contract or a labor union? If so the rules may change. Sounds more like there was a verbal agreement, not a contract.
You can check with your local state or labor board as we do not know where you are. They will know the local laws and rules.
you are splitting hairs, they fired you and you have no recourse, in the workplace a verbal agreement is worthless, it has to a written and signed employment contract, there is nothing to sue for 49 states are at will and that means you can be let go for any reason or no reason, what really sucks is that you probably won't be eligible for unemployment
These are the types of issues our new president ( or maybe next president ) should be addressing.
Corporations and employers have waaay to much power at their disposal, while at the same time most are technically paying you double what you receive because they pay into workers comp and taxes and all that non-sense..
a tiny part of why our economy is so F***ED!