No signed benefits contract

[mledezma]

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

Hello there,

I'm a Pharmacist working in Marin county, CA. Approximately 3 years ago I took a new job working 20 hours per week, in a very small private Pharmacy. The owner hired me and when he offered me the job we negotiated the benefits package. At that time I was fully employed and happy with my job, but this presented a new area of Pharmacy so I was willing to leave my other job if he was able to at least give me the same benefits including vacation hours. He agreed and I started working. After I got hired, he was gone on business trips for most of the time and then suddenly he passed away (about 2 months after I had been hired). I just recently found out that he never actually had anything in writing, although I remember signing multiple papers I guess the benefits contract was not one of them.

The wife took over the company (she is not a Pharmacist) and has never giving me an evaluation or a raise in 3 years. When I asked for a raise recently, she said that she had to figure out all the finances and that she will give me an evaluation. At this point, she found out, how many vacation hours I was earning and was dismayed. I explained to her that this was the agreement I had with her husband and she told me that since there was nothing in writing that she would not honor that and would only give me what the employee manual states for a new employee.

The employment opportunities have changed drastically since then (now there are too many Pharmacists, not enough jobs). At that time it was very difficult to find Pharmacists in this area so that is why I figured that he was willing to give me what I asked for even though it was not the norm for his pharmacy.

At this point I would like to know what my legal rights are? Can I challenge her to honor the verbal contract I had with her husband? I can show her what my previous employer was paying and what benefits I had with them....which I explained to her already. I was not going to take a job, when the demand for Pharmacists was so high, making the same amount of money with half the vacation time and no sick leave....as it was my benefits where not exactly matched but it was a compromise I was willing to make. There is no way that I would have taken the job if he had not offered the vacation time that I requested as I was willing to make a lateral move but not willing to give up all the benefits that I had accumulated trough years of experience, etc.

At this point the only record available is the 3 years of vacation that I have been accumulating.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[ecmst12]

Any vacation that you have already accumulated can't be taken away in CA. You must be allowed to take it or they have to pay it out.

She can change the policy going forward, however. She is not REQUIRED to give you any paid vacation time at all.

 

[cbg]

How do you propose to PROVE that you had any kind of contract, verbal or otherwise, with her husband? Showing her what you had at your previous employer does nothing to prove that he had agreed to match it. It's like saying, "This morning I saw a huge deer with a rack THIS BIG standing by the oak tree in my yard, and to prove it here's a picture of the oak tree".

 

[ESteele]

Are you certain you have nothing in writing delineating the terms of your employment? Frequently, an offer letter and/or an initial e-mail would have been exchanged and would have set forth the basic parameters of your new employment.

You should search all of your computer and your records again. If your current boss has “amnesia” and flatly denies you had the enhanced vacation hours based on your unique employment agreement, then you will likely have a difficult time proving your position regarding the hours. It will probably come down to her word against yours. And, she will undoubtedly “back up” her position with the employee handbook.

Accordingly, you will want to find some contemporaneous documentation from or to your current employer which would confirm the rate under which you accrued vacation pursuant to your employment agreement.

 

[swalsh411]

Do you get pay stubs? Do they show your vacation balance? If so that is very good evidence that you were accruing at a higher rate. As previously mentioned, this vacation that is already accrued cannot be taken away. If she does so, file a complaint with EDD. However there is no law which says she cannot revert you to a lower accural rate or stop giving you vacation time completely going forward.

 

[mledezma]

Thank you all for the information....although it is not good news.