Can they do this ?

[johns123]

Hello, I'll try to make this brief.
I'm employed as a "driver" for Preferred Healthmate in Brick, NJ. A business that has multiple offices throughout New Jersey.
I use my own vehicle for this work, I pick up and drop off medical personnel at different locations, and sometimes transport paperwork and equipment too.
I am paid $11.00 an hour, and I am reimbursed $.50 per mile, and any road tolls.
I have been employed with them since April 2011.

There has been talk in the office that the company is thinking of buying their own vehicle. My guess is that they will want me to transfer over to using their vehicle, which means I would lose the $.50 per mile, and the mileage and time that I'm usually paid for to get to and from the office. I am currently paid from the moment I leave my home, till the time I get home at night.
This would wind up being roughly a 50% loss of my current income.

Again, my guess, is that if this does not agree with me, they will find someone else to drive.
But heres the catch, they wouldn't be firing me, they would want to see it, that it was my choice not to stay on the job, this way they wouldn't have to pay any unemployment insurance for me.

For me, the issue is that the job offer would be completely different than the original job conditions, so its really not the "same" job.
Do I have any legal options here ?

Since my pay would be so drastically reduced, I would really like to have the back-up of "unemployment", until I can find another job, because that can take quite a while in this economy.

Thanks so much for any advice you could give me about this situation.
Best Regards
John S.

 

[Antigone*]

Hello, I'll try to make this brief.
I'm employed as a "driver" for Preferred Healthmate in Brick, NJ. A business that has multiple offices throughout New Jersey.
I use my own vehicle for this work, I pick up and drop off medical personnel at different locations, and sometimes transport paperwork and equipment too.
I am paid $11.00 an hour, and I am reimbursed $.50 per mile, and any road tolls.
I have been employed with them since April 2011.

There has been talk in the office that the company is thinking of buying their own vehicle. My guess is that they will want me to transfer over to using their vehicle, which means I would lose the $.50 per mile, and the mileage and time that I'm usually paid for to get to and from the office. I am currently paid from the moment I leave my home, till the time I get home at night.
This would wind up being roughly a 50% loss of my current income.

Again, my guess, is that if this does not agree with me, they will find someone else to drive.
But heres the catch, they wouldn't be firing me, they would want to see it, that it was my choice not to stay on the job, this way they wouldn't have to pay any unemployment insurance for me.

For me, the issue is that the job offer would be completely different than the original job conditions, so its really not the "same" job.
Do I have any legal options here ?

Since my pay would be so drastically reduced, I would really like to have the back-up of "unemployment", until I can find another job, because that can take quite a while in this economy.

Thanks so much for any advice you could give me about this situation.
Best Regards
John S.

Your pay would not be drastically reduced. The mileage allowance is not pay. You have the legal option to keep your job with all its changes or look for a new one if you decide to quit.

If you quit, apply for unemployment. Just remember that your application may be denied.

 

[Zigner]

Furthermore, if you drive your vehicle or theirs, they don't have to pay you for your travel time from your house to your job and back in the evening.

 

[johns123]

Thank You, I see your point.

 

[commentator]

Quote: they would want to see it, that it was my choice not to stay on the job, this way they wouldn't have to pay any unemployment insurance for me.

For me, the issue is that the job offer would be completely different than the original job conditions, so its really not the "same" job.
Do I have any legal options here ?

On the unemployment insurance situation, you would have nothing in the world to lose by keeping the job and driving their vehicle while looking for another job. Because what you would draw in benefits, even if approved, which is a real definite maybe so, maybe not situation, would be more than you could make while drawing unemployment benefits. You'd be required to look for other jobs then too. Just because they're cutting your pay doesn't mean you're entitled to quit and draw benefits. It has to be a significant change in your work situation, a significant decrease in your pay before it's considered an approvable reason to quit your job. As long as you'd still be making more than you'd be making in unemployment benefits, why would you insist on giving it up before you find that good better job?

If you think there's a better job out there tht you could find, go for it, but I certainly wouldn't push for unemployment when I had job security there until I found that new job, even if there was a slight pay decrease involved.