Bartender/ owner issues

[singlemotherof4]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee

Worked at a bar for a little over a year. i found out i was preg and started looking for another job. i put in my two week notice and the next day the owner asked if i was pregnant with a colored baby. i said yes and he made my last day that comin up saturday. still had another week left on notice. he said he would pay me for that extra week. my last day i paid myself along with the extra week pay as we agreed and come that monday i was contacted by police being accused of stealing. no charges were filed with no concrete evidence. he hired another bartender that worked 3 weeks only working for tips then fired her and accused her of stealing also.. do either of us have a case ?

 

[justalayman]

my last day i paid myself along with the extra week pay as we agreed and come that monday i was contacted by police being accused of stealing.

You paid yourself? Was this how you typically received your money?

he hired another bartender that worked 3 weeks only working for tips then fired her and accused her of stealing also.. do either of us have a case ?

a case for what? In your situation, if he did not intend to pay you that last week, then he did nothing wrong. With the new bartender; Maybe she was stealing, maybe not .What difference does it make to you?

 

[Zigner]

A case for what?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee

Worked at a bar for a little over a year. i found out i was preg and started looking for another job. i put in my two week notice and the next day the owner asked if i was pregnant with a colored baby. i said yes and he made my last day that comin up saturday. still had another week left on notice. he said he would pay me for that extra week. my last day i paid myself along with the extra week pay as we agreed and come that monday i was contacted by police being accused of stealing. no charges were filed with no concrete evidence. he hired another bartender that worked 3 weeks only working for tips then fired her and accused her of stealing also.. do either of us have a case ?

If you did not steal from your former employer, and if the pay you received for your final week of work was, in fact, approved by your former employer, and if your employer ONLY reported the supposed theft to the police in the form of a complaint and your employer did not speak of the supposed theft to anyone else, then, no, you have no case against your employer and your employer, apparently, would not have one against you.

On the other hand, IF your employer told the police and others that you stole money from him, then you could potentially have a defamation claim to pursue against him, if all of the other elements required for a defamation suit can be met (for example, you would need evidence of reputational injury enough to support an award of damages).

The above is not to say, however, that a lawsuit would be worth the time you would have to invest in it or worth the high cost of pursuing. And there is never a guarantee of winning any lawsuit.

If you have been injured by the false claims of theft, though, you could have all of the facts reviewed by an attorney in your area - or you could just continue with your plans to look for another job. That could be your best (and cheapest) course of action.

 

[cbg]

I am by no means convinced, however, by what the OP says, that a charge of thievery is unfounded...

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

If you believe your child was a victim of discrimination, when the child is old enough to testify, it can file as such. The statute of limitations will likely have run by then.

 

[quincy]

I am by no means convinced, however, by what the OP says, that a charge of thievery is unfounded...

I agree that it sounds a wee bit weird that the bar owner would report singlemotherof4(almost 5) to the police for theft if he had in fact been planning on paying her for the extra week.



And, as a probably unnecessary note to singlemotherof4: OhioRoadwarrior is just kidding - your unborn child has no cause of action against the bar owner now, and will have no cause of action against the bar owner later, over the comment he made to you.

 

[ecmst12]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)the owner asked if i was pregnant with a colored baby. i said yes

I have no idea why you would even dignify such a question with a response.

 

[commentator]

If I am understanding this, you announced that you were quitting in two weeks. The boss decided not to let you work out your whole two weeks, said that you were to work through Saturday and that would be it. He said, at some point in that conversation, that he would go on and pay you for the week you didn't work. What the color of your prospective baby may be or that he asked has no relevance to the facts here. It appears you are saying he only did this to you (refused to allow you to work out your notice) because you are having a "colored baby" (incidentally, all babies have a color!)but that dog doesn't really hunt.

In TN, as in all states, it is extremely common for an employer when given notice to say, "Leave now. I don't want you to work for the next two weeks." It is totally legal for them to do this. He may fear you'll have an on the job injury during the next two weeks and then try to sue him or something. Not being allowed to work out your notice does not mean you are fired and can be approved for unemployment insurance. This is still considered quitting your job, giving notice is not a requirement, he does not have to allow you to work it and leave when you planned to, and it does NOT have to be paid by the employer unless you actually worked it.

Your understanding was that he said he would pay you for the additional week you did not work. But then, it appears you paid yourself from the till, I assume , without double checking this intention with him. And he filed charges against you because you paid yourself for a week you didn't work. Not only is there no case, he may very well be able to file charges and get the money back, regardless of what he said he'd pay you or why he decided he wouldn't pay you.

As for the other bar tender, it doesn't sound as though he pressed charges against him/her. It sounds like they were working off the books anyway, for tips only, and the owner fired them because he wanted to. He made up a reason, or maybe he did think they were stealing. If they were a payroll employee, they could file for unemployment benefits. End of story.

 

[swalsh411]

Is it legal under Federal law to fire somebody based on the race of somebody they are dating/sleeping/procreating with? I really asking, I don't know the answer.

 

[quincy]

Is it legal under Federal law to fire somebody based on the race of somebody they are dating/sleeping/procreating with? I really asking, I don't know the answer.

It can be illegal. See http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/race_color.cfm.

 

[cbg]

But given the fact pattern presented, it would be very hard to prove (make that, next to impossible) and to make matters worse, the OP then proceeded to shoot herself in the foot, thus pretty much killing what extremely slim chance she had of doing so.

 

[ecmst12]

She already had put in her notice when he made the racist statement.

 

[quincy]

I agree with both of you.

 

[cbg]

And ecmst12 has put her finger on the exact reason I say it would be next to impossible for her to prove any kind of racial discrimination, even before she helped herself from the till.