• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Employer said I Can't go out of town for 2 months to work, he is going to....

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

deejayt

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

My boss wants to send us across the country for work for 2 months, and work us 12-14 hour shift a day, (I never agreed to work out of town when I applied for the job 4 years ago.) and I cannot go out of town for that long, I have personal things going on, and I tried telling him that I cannot go, he told me if I can't go, no matter the reason, then he is going to say that I quit. But I'm not quitting. My job is "flooring" I live in Saint paul, MN if you can give me any advise on this....
 


justalayman

Senior Member
do you have a contract stating you will never be sent out of town? Your employer is allowed to control his business and apparently that is doing work out of town. If you do not want to be employed and work where he tells you to work, yes, that would be you quitting.
 

Betty

Senior Member
Agree; unless you have a binding employment contract or CBA that you can't be sent out of town or work 12-14 hr. shifts, your employer is not doing anything illegal in requiring that you do so.

If you don't go as requested, your employer will consider that you quit.

Sorry.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Disagree, for unemployment insurance purposes. If you have been working for this guy for four years, and in this four years, you have not had to work away from home as a part of your regular and expected work, and then he suddenly up and demands that you take this job out of town, or you're out, then you file for unemployment benefits as soon as he makes this official.

Whether he tells them you quit or not, if the nature of the job changes dramatically, and due to your personal circumstances you are not able to work this newly defined job, then you have a pretty good chance to receive unemployment.

However, think long and hard about it. Because once you decide you can not do this out of town work, you're out of a job, unemployment or not, and what you draw will be a lot less than what you would make working.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Your employer may consider that you quit but that will be the only one who thinks so ... UI will consider it a termination.

You don't have to leave your home for months at a time unless your job from day one included this.


1. ANY separation from employment is a termination; if the employer caused it, it's an involuntary termination; if the employee quit, it's a voluntary termination.

2. Wrong. Business requirements change, especially after 4 years. Unless the OP had a bona fide contract saying that travel would never be required, the employer can assign you to an out-of-state job. They do not have to take the employee's personal situation into consideration.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Disagree, for unemployment insurance purposes. If you have been working for this guy for four years, and in this four years, you have not had to work away from home as a part of your regular and expected work, and then he suddenly up and demands that you take this job out of town, or you're out, then you file for unemployment benefits as soon as he makes this official.
.
I agree with one caveat; it depends how different this is from what the OP has been required to do for work up to this point. With the guy being a flooring installer, he may have already been required to travel some amount already (that is not uncommon in construction).

So, if you don't want to go, don't go. You will apparently be out of this job. Then, go file for UI and see where that takes you.
 

Betty

Senior Member
I believe the employer will consider it a quit as I said previously & as the OP said the employer would say.

The OP will say they were terminated/fired by the employer.

The UI folks will decide which they consider it & if UI benefits are payable.
 

deejayt

Junior Member
I have gone out of town for no more than two weeks at a time, and that still wasn't in my job description when I started working for this company. They want me to go out of town over a few others, because I make less then any of the other floor installers. My biggest concern is trying to fight for U/E.

They have other work for me to do if I didn't go, but Like I said, they want me to go, because they can pay me less. Maybe my boss is just trying to scare me and say he will say that I quit so I will go out of town?

I'm going to tell him that I cannot go out of town for 2 1/2 months straight because it will put my family in a hardship, and that I'm not quitting my job. I will work in town. And I guess I will just have to see what happends. But thanks, for all the advice. Oh, what If I brought a recording device with me and told him I was going to record this convo. and make sure everyone was on recording, saying I didnt quit, that I just can't leave for that long of a time....
 

justalayman

Senior Member
deejayt;2762536]I have gone out of town for no more than two weeks at a time, and that still wasn't in my job description when I started working for this company. They want me to go out of town over a few others, because I make less then any of the other floor installers. My biggest concern is trying to fight for U/E.
well, since you are aware going out of town is part of the job and you have done so previously, I believe this would really hurt your claim. Only if this trip is very unusual as far as time and distance goes but even then, I think it will be "iffy".

They have other work for me to do if I didn't go, but Like I said, they want me to go, because they can pay me less. Maybe my boss is just trying to scare me and say he will say that I quit so I will go out of town?
are you a gambler?

Oh, what If I brought a recording device with me and told him I was going to record this convo. and make sure everyone was on recording, saying I didnt quit, that I just can't leave for that long of a time..
.he can refuse to discuss anything with you and be recorded. If you are on their premises, he can tell you to take the recorder off company property or risk termination for insubordination.

I wouldn't bet either way on this one. I suspect it will hinge on other out of town work and similarities in length of assignment and proximity to home base. Not just assignments you have been on but what the company, in general, has done with all employees.

Not sure I would want to gamble on winning though. Unless you can obtain other work quickly and easily, it may put you in a bad situation if UI isn't approved.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Forget the recording device. I'm not sure if it is okay to tape someone without their consent in your state, and getting his consent is really going to make him mad, as justy pointed out, but it's really not necessary anyhow.

If you tell him you can't do the out of town work, but you would like to continue to work for him there in town like you have been doing, and he fires you, you leave when he tells you to, and you file for unemployment benefits.
You don't sign anything agreeing that you have voluntarily quit the job, and you don't get mad and say something to him like, "You can't fire me, you so and so, because I'm quitting!"

When your claim for unemployment is taken, they will ask you exactly what happened when you were fired, exactly what was said, and you will tell them. You will go into how you cannot work out of town, how you have not ever before worked away from home this long since you've been working for him, and how you tried to work it out with the employer so that you kept your job, but that you explained to him that you couldn't work out of town that long, and that he then fired you, saying, "....." whatever he said.

They will then contact the employer, and he may say you quit, but your word is as believable as his. In other words, they are not going to believe what he says, just because he is the employer. They will go with whichever of the two of you is most believable. Then a decision will be made to either grant or deny benefits to you, and either party then has the right to appeal this decision and there would be a hearing.

Try to work it out with your employer so that you don't go out of town and don't lose your job either. Because as I've said, unemployment isn't as good as working, and it may be hard to replace this job. Particularly with one where no traveling is required, since you are in a line of work that frequently involves going to wherever the jobs are.
 
Last edited:

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
I don't think you fully understand. So what if you got a recording such as you describe? It wouldn't change anything.

1.) It doesn't matter whether or not you agreed to work out of town at the time you were hired or not. Your employer needs you to work out of town NOW, and unless you have a legally binding and enforceable contract that says you CANNOT be required to work out of town, you can.

2.) You can legally be fired for refusing to go work out of town, regardless of your reasons for refusing, unless your reason is one that is legally protected under the law and off the top of my head, I can't think of any that would fit the situation you describe. You may or may not get unemployment based on how it is presented and exactly how the situation plays out, but the termination will be legal either way.

3.) If you can work it out with the employer so that you don't have to go out of town, so much the better. But that is going to be between you and him. There is no law you can invoke that will force him to let you stay in town. If he wants to require you to work out of town, he can. The best you could hope for if he is not willing to retract the request, is UI. And that's not a guarantee.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top