cangrejero
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida
I apologize for the rather long story.
Under the advice of my Union, and after several years of aggravation, in late January of 2009, I filed a complaint with the EEOC against my employer, a State agency. The charges were discrimination, retaliation, workplace bullying and hostile work environment. The EEOC took the complaint and assigned a case number to it.
In early February of 2009, I became a certified Union Steward; a fact that was duly notified to all parties with any interest. As part of the training for Steward, I learned the terms under which a career service employee could be dismissed: for cause and with a ten-day advance notice; except in extraordinary circumstances, when they could dismiss effective immediately.
On April 20th, a manager from my work unit, and a sworn law enforcement officer (SLEO) from our Fraud Division, came into my work area. I intuitively knew that I was going to be dismissed immediately, with no advance notice. From observing what had happened to others, I knew that the SLEO had come to protect the manager, make sure I surrendered all property of the employer, and walk me out. Otherwise, the manager would have come by himself.
The manager introduced the SLEO and told me that I was been dismissed. Then, he attempted to give me a letter, which I refused to take. I invoked my Weingarten Rights and called my Union representative. After a brief exchange with my representative, the latter asked me to inquire if I was being given advanced notice. The manager's response was that I was being dismissed immediately and that they did not have to give me advance notice. Being that the case, my representative told me to take the letter, surrender any property under my control, and to walk out.
The manager, in the presence of the SLEO, gave me a six-page letter dated April 17th. I read the first paragraph of the letter to verify that I was being dismissed immediately and gave the State property to the SLEO. When I got up to walk out, the manager asked me to sign the letter in acknowledgement of its receipt. I nicely told him to take a hike; that he had a witness to the delivery. The manager proceeded to make a phone call, after which he took the letter back, wrote something on the letter, and left us to go and make a copy. When the manager gave me back the letter, I noticed that he had signed it after indicating that I had refused to sign the letter. I then was "escorted" out.
A couple of bewildering events have happened since. On April 29th I received a letter dated the day before, the 28th. In this letter, my then former employer indicated that, "since I had not read the dismissal letter on April 20th", and in an abundance of caution, they were holding the dismissal in abeyance until April 30th, so I could have an opportunity to rebut the charges. They actually paid my salary until the 30th. Then, on May 5th, I received another letter dated the previous day, the 4th, indicating that I had been dismissed retroactively to May 1st.
I am not a lawyer but, this all sound like nonsense to me. First, I believe that the letter of the 28th was intended to cure the fact that I had been dismissed in violation of the Union contract (there were no extraordinary circumstances) and that they should have given me advanced notice from the beginning. Second, I believe that this thing about not reading the letter on the 20th has no legal basis whatsoever. Finally, if they honestly believed that I should have been given time for rebuttal (advanced notice); they should have given the 10 days after receipt of the notice on the 29th.
Do I make sense?
I apologize for the rather long story.
Under the advice of my Union, and after several years of aggravation, in late January of 2009, I filed a complaint with the EEOC against my employer, a State agency. The charges were discrimination, retaliation, workplace bullying and hostile work environment. The EEOC took the complaint and assigned a case number to it.
In early February of 2009, I became a certified Union Steward; a fact that was duly notified to all parties with any interest. As part of the training for Steward, I learned the terms under which a career service employee could be dismissed: for cause and with a ten-day advance notice; except in extraordinary circumstances, when they could dismiss effective immediately.
On April 20th, a manager from my work unit, and a sworn law enforcement officer (SLEO) from our Fraud Division, came into my work area. I intuitively knew that I was going to be dismissed immediately, with no advance notice. From observing what had happened to others, I knew that the SLEO had come to protect the manager, make sure I surrendered all property of the employer, and walk me out. Otherwise, the manager would have come by himself.
The manager introduced the SLEO and told me that I was been dismissed. Then, he attempted to give me a letter, which I refused to take. I invoked my Weingarten Rights and called my Union representative. After a brief exchange with my representative, the latter asked me to inquire if I was being given advanced notice. The manager's response was that I was being dismissed immediately and that they did not have to give me advance notice. Being that the case, my representative told me to take the letter, surrender any property under my control, and to walk out.
The manager, in the presence of the SLEO, gave me a six-page letter dated April 17th. I read the first paragraph of the letter to verify that I was being dismissed immediately and gave the State property to the SLEO. When I got up to walk out, the manager asked me to sign the letter in acknowledgement of its receipt. I nicely told him to take a hike; that he had a witness to the delivery. The manager proceeded to make a phone call, after which he took the letter back, wrote something on the letter, and left us to go and make a copy. When the manager gave me back the letter, I noticed that he had signed it after indicating that I had refused to sign the letter. I then was "escorted" out.
A couple of bewildering events have happened since. On April 29th I received a letter dated the day before, the 28th. In this letter, my then former employer indicated that, "since I had not read the dismissal letter on April 20th", and in an abundance of caution, they were holding the dismissal in abeyance until April 30th, so I could have an opportunity to rebut the charges. They actually paid my salary until the 30th. Then, on May 5th, I received another letter dated the previous day, the 4th, indicating that I had been dismissed retroactively to May 1st.
I am not a lawyer but, this all sound like nonsense to me. First, I believe that the letter of the 28th was intended to cure the fact that I had been dismissed in violation of the Union contract (there were no extraordinary circumstances) and that they should have given me advanced notice from the beginning. Second, I believe that this thing about not reading the letter on the 20th has no legal basis whatsoever. Finally, if they honestly believed that I should have been given time for rebuttal (advanced notice); they should have given the 10 days after receipt of the notice on the 29th.
Do I make sense?
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