Fired after giving notice

[roadhand]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas


Hello, I have been an exempt employee for the last three years at my company. Last Friday I turned in a two week notice of intent to resign, as is required by published company policy to recieve my earned PTO.

I talked to my immediate superviser on Saturday and was told that my two weeks notice was not necassary and to bring my truck and all equipment to the office this morning. When I did we inventoried everything, and filled out seperation paperwork on which he noted that I was fired for inability to perform job duties.

I noted beside this that this was untrue, I have an impeccable record both attendance and disciplinary and in my statement I wrote that I felt this termination was an attempt to cheat me out of my unused PTO.


The unused PTO amounts to about $2000. Do I have any recourse or avenues to collect this benefit?


Thank you in advance.

 

[cbg]

In Texas it depends entirely on company policy. It can't hurt to run the situation past the TWC.

 

[roadhand]

Does the TWC handle such matters? I am not looking for unemployment benefits, just the PTO pay that I am entitled to. The only reason I gave notice was for this reason.

 

[mlane58]

Does the TWC handle such matters? I am not looking for unemployment benefits, just the PTO pay that I am entitled to. The only reason I gave notice was for this reason.

Yes TWC does handle these matters. Make sure you let them knwo exactly what the policy states and that you followed the policy by giving a two week notice.

 

[cbg]

The TWC handles far more than just unemployment; they are the regulatory agency for all state-related wage issues. Yes, they are the appropriate agency to go through.

 

[roadhand]

Thank you for your responses =)

 

[roadhand]

I recieved my final check today, all PTO pay included. All it took was a matter of fact email to HR quoting the statute and a reminder that I do still have my employee handbook. I went ahead and referenced the pages that PTO Policy is covered in.


Thank you all again. This site is a great resource.

 

[pattytx]

Cool result.

 

[commentator]

They did you a nice favor, because if you had resigned, you wouldn't have any chance to draw unemployment insurance. But since they decided to give you a final slap by saying you didn't quit, we fired you for poor job performance...why not go and file for unemployment benefits? It is not welfare, it is not a handout, it was paid for by their employer taxes, to be used if they arbitrarily had to let someone go through no fault of their own, and unless you are moving directly into another job, even if you are out of work for a few weeks, why would you not want to file and receive several hundred dollars a week to which you are legally entitled?

It will also verify, by decision they will make, that the employer did not have a good job related reason to terminate you, unless there is a trail of wilful misconduct, where you didn't do your job as you knew how to do it, deliberately goofed off.

It is not uncommon when someone gives notice for a company to tell them to go on and leave, but to tell you you are fired, that was probably a deliberate attempt to keep you from getting your vacation time pay and such. But asking for it seems to have done the trick. Why, if they said you were terminated, would you not counter this by filing for unemployment benefits?

Even though you can get by without the money, I'd file for the unemployment, because they did the one thing that would make you eligible for benefits by telling you you were fired. Stupid HR. Saying you were fired for job performance without documentation of poor job performance is dumb on their part.

 

[roadhand]

Because I already have another job.