Do I pursue a case?

[grw559]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
In California. I was employed as a store manager for a local family owned retail store. A couple years before being terminated I started my own business while still working full time. The employer supported my business, even placed orders with me and allowed me to solicit their customers for my business. About 3 weeks before being terminated I was written up by the general manager for having a negative attitude and abusing the privilege they granted me in engaging in my own business in the workplace. 2 days before being terminated the owner of the business asked to meet and talk with me. He stated that I did not seem happy working there. I agreed but I also stated that the job was important to me and I assured him that I would do what I have to do to continue working there as I am the sole bread winner for my household. The meeting ended well I thought. 2 days later I was asked on my lunch hour to come into the general managers office where I was terminated for having a bad attitude and a conflict of interest.

I ended up winning an appeal for my unemployment benefits as the judge found that the employer created the situation by allowing me to conduct business on there premises. A witness for them after the hearing told me that he was asked to lie for them so that #1 I would not get my benefits and #2 ao I wouldn't sue them for wrongful termination.

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
In California. I was employed as a store manager for a local family owned retail store. A couple years before being terminated I started my own business while still working full time. The employer supported my business, even placed orders with me and allowed me to solicit their customers for my business. About 3 weeks before being terminated I was written up by the general manager for having a negative attitude and abusing the privilege they granted me in engaging in my own business in the workplace. 2 days before being terminated the owner of the business asked to meet and talk with me. He stated that I did not seem happy working there. I agreed but I also stated that the job was important to me and I assured him that I would do what I have to do to continue working there as I am the sole bread winner for my household. The meeting ended well I thought. 2 days later I was asked on my lunch hour to come into the general managers office where I was terminated for having a bad attitude and a conflict of interest.

I ended up winning an appeal for my unemployment benefits as the judge found that the employer created the situation by allowing me to conduct business on there premises. A witness for them after the hearing told me that he was asked to lie for them so that #1 I would not get my benefits and #2 ao I wouldn't sue them for wrongful termination.

There was no wrongful termination. California is an at-will employment state, which means that an employer can terminate your employment for any reason that isn't contrary to law or employment contract. By its very definition, wrongful termination is being terminated for an illegal reason. You weren't terminated for any reason that was illegal (i.e., not because of your race, creed, sex, sexual orientation). And while you may feel that the reasons for terminating you were unfair, they were not for an illegal reason.

You did exactly what you could/should have done: filed for unemployment benefits. As for wrongful termination, you have no case.

 

[jiggy78]

In what Universe do you think any laws were broken?

 

[commentator]

You were approved in an unemployment insurance hearing, by decision, according to unemployment law. That is nice, but it does not in any way indicate that there were any other labor laws that would apply or had been violated. There weren't. If your employer did anything for reason 2, so that you would not sue them for wrongful termination, they were being dumb. There was no wrongful termination involved. Asking someone to lie for the company in an unemployment hearing is a mean rotten thing to do, but it's not illegal. They could even fire the person who refused to lie for the refusal and they'd have no lawsuit either. But they'd probably get approved for unemployment insurance benefits.

 

[tranquility]

You were approved in an unemployment insurance hearing, by decision, according to unemployment law. That is nice, but it does not in any way indicate that there were any other labor laws that would apply or had been violated. There weren't. If your employer did anything for reason 2, so that you would not sue them for wrongful termination, they were being dumb. There was no wrongful termination involved. Asking someone to lie for the company in an unemployment hearing is a mean rotten thing to do, but it's not illegal. They could even fire the person who refused to lie for the refusal and they'd have no lawsuit either. But they'd probably get approved for unemployment insurance benefits.

While I agree with the core of the above, lying in an unemployment hearing is a crime. Asking someone to commit a crime is solicitation--also a crime.

 

[commentator]

Disagree. Not really a crime, except as lying under oath is a crime. People do it thousands of times a week in every state in the union. Almost always in a hearing one or the other of the two parties is lying. Unemployment law goes with the "most believable of the two parties."

 

[tranquility]

Disagree. Not really a crime, except as lying under oath is a crime. People do it thousands of times a week in every state in the union. Almost always in a hearing one or the other of the two parties is lying. Unemployment law goes with the "most believable of the two parties."

Just because it is hard to prove and is not often prosecuted, does not make it not a crime.
http://www.shouselaw.com/fraud-unemploymentinsurance.html

1.2. Insurance fraud

Unemployment insurance fraud…a rising type of California insurance fraud…takes place anytime someone makes a "willful false representation, knowing concealment, or false identification to obtain, increase, reduce, or defeat any benefit under the state or federal programs".3 This type of fraud is regulated specifically by the California Unemployment Insurance Code and generally by the California Penal Code.

People caught bilking the system get prosecuted and often receive heavy sentences, including years in state prison.

3California Unemployment Insurance Code 2101 -- Unemployment insurance fraud. ("(a) It is a violation of this chapter to willfully make a false statement or representation, to knowingly fail to disclose a material fact, or to use a false name, false social security number, or other false identification to obtain, increase, reduce, or defeat any benefit or payment, whether for the maker or for any other person, under any of the following statutes administered by the department: (1) The provisions of this division. (2) The provisions of any unemployment insurance law of the federal government. (3) The provisions of any training allowance law of the federal government. (4) The provisions of any trade readjustment allowance law of the federal government. (5) The provisions of any other allowance law of the federal government. (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude the applicability of Section 470 of the Penal Code to any acts or omissions which violate this section.")