• 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.

Employment Limbo

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

magdellene

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Michigan

Is it illegal to keep an employee employed and not terminate their employment but not permit them to work either, trying to force them to quit?
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
How about your supplying us with a little bit of detail, huh?

If you force us to answer the question as it currently stands, the answer will be no, it's not illegal. If you want a different answer, you're going to have to tell us what is going on. (You STILL may not get a different answer - it will depend on the detail.)
 

magdellene

Junior Member
The employee in question was a client through a state vocational rehabilitation program. She was assigned a Job Developer who was an outside vendor working with the State of Michigan. He hired her to work as a job developer with his company. Three months later, when her case was about to be closed, he came up with this impossible job description that even by the State of Michigan VR counselors' opinion, was not a job description and impossible to attain even for an experienced job developer.

The job description essentially made null and void any previous agreements that the boss had made with this employee when he hired her and laid out stringent requirements for success within the company. I don't have a copy of the job description, or I'd place it here. The interesting part was that she was not a job developer before she was hired and although the boss promised to train her, he never trained her. She was thrown into the job and did incredibly well for someone who wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to be doing in the first place.

This job description was given to her on the day her case was supposed to close with Vocational Rehab, which would count for the boss of the company as a successful employment closure with the state and up until that point, whenver her counselor asked him how the employee was doing, he responded with glowing remarks.

Yet, when she refused to sign the description, suddenly she was doing very badly in the position, etc. and she was told she could not work until the job description was signed. She was told, they'd call her if they needed her. But her counselor was told that she wasn't coming to work.

So now, a month has passed. She keep setting up meetings with her boss, mediated by her counselor. He keeps cancelling them. She hasn't worked and she hasn't been let go from the job and he still owes her back pay.

Her case with the State has been closed, but Vocational Rehab is still working with her. They're under the impression that her boss is going to take her back if she signs the job description because that's what the boss keeps telling them. But off the record, everyone agrees that he's going to get rid of her regardless.

I don't know if this is anything you wanted to know, but that's the story in a nutshell.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Although I agree that the situation appears horribly unfair, I don't see anything in it that is illegal or that gives the employee legal recourse.
 

Sockeye

Member
The employee should be collecting unemployment though, even is she's technically working, if she isn't getting any hours then she can collect. Perhaps this would get her managers attention.
 

magdellene

Junior Member
I don't think she's looking for legal recourse so much. I think she's trying to force him into a position to let her go. She's not the first employee he's done this to. I think it's essentially on principle that she wants him to terminate the employment if he doesn't want her working with him any longer.

Someone used the term pseudo-dumping, but I'd never heard that before.

How long can someone keep you on payroll without terminating your employment? lol
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
How long can someone keep you on payroll without terminating your employment?

The legal answer to this is, as long as he wants.

But it's not whether or not she's been fired or laid off; it's whether or not she qualifies for UI.

If he's not allowing her to work, she may well qualify for UI. If he finds out that she's going to get UI anyway, that may end the standoff.
 
Last edited:

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

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