hostile work enviorment

[leenabeena]

I live and work in New Jersey

I am 27 and have been at my current job for 10 years. I work at a market research company. I run the mall office. I run the office alone. I have never had an assistant. I work every weekend. I do the job of three people.I have to come in on my days off. I get screamed at all day everyday. Its a family run business and they run it like their own kingdom. They hold back pay checks. they take away vacation. we are required to carry pagers and if we are paged adn we doint call in its a days pay out of our checks, I honestly cant work here anymore. my boss set me up. she called me put me on speaker phone had 3 or 4 employees come in to listen and yelled at me. She told me if i dont like it to leave so i told her fine i will. Now she is instsiting i quit and sending emails to that effect. she is also saying I quit to go back to school. Which is not the case. I know they dont want to pay unemployment. I ahve proof of the hostile work enviorment. I printed about 100 emails of them threatening me, of me begging them to hire someone else.


I know they are going to fight my claim.

what do you think my chances are?

 

[Beth3]

She told me if i dont like it to leave so i told her fine i will. Now she is instsiting i quit and sending emails to that effect You DID quit.

I know they dont want to pay unemployment. I expect you're right.

I ahve proof of the hostile work enviorment. I printed about 100 emails of them threatening me, of me begging them to hire someone else. While you have described a very unpleasant work environment, that is NOT a hostile work environment. HWE has a very specific meaning in the law and typically has to do with sexual harassment.

File for unemployment and the State will decide whether you are eligible for benefits. The issue they will evaluate is whether your working conditions were so unpleasant that your quitting constituted a constructive discharge. You should be advised that in the great majority of cases, individuals who quit their jobs are not eligible for UC benefits.

 

[leenabeena]

Honestly i dotn even care. I hate it here so much I cant stay. I will file if i get decline oh well. My bosses son is begging me to stay becasue they have no one. but ti wont. its so miserabel her. ic ant work 7 days a week and then get yelled at for it. this place is insane

 

[cbg]

While Beth's answer is entirely correct, an employer may not hold back paychecks and they may not dock your paychecks for not responding to a page. You should probably contact your state DOL about these issues.

It will NOT make this an illegal termination; it will NOT affect whether or not you are eligible for unemployment benefits; it will NOT in any way change anything that Beth told you. But if you have had pay withheld, you may be able to get it back.

 

[eerelations]

Maybe even more money owed to you

Also ask the DoL about your entitlement to overtime pay. While you haven't mentioned not getting this, these people don't sound like the types to pay OT pay, even to those who are legally entitled.

Just curious about something - why did you stay there for ten whole years if it was so bad? If it were me, I would've fled at the first scream/withheld paycheque.

 

[leenabeena]

Everyone that works there is in the same kinda situation. I worked there since i was 17. Its like i have battered wife syndrome. I know it sounds stupid. But even though i know what goes on is wrong i felt bad not staying late. all they did was yell and nothing was good enough. It took a while to egt up the courage to leave., I have no idea why. And no they never pay overtime. I was a salary employee. but they never paid overtime to part timers either. they do what they want. its really sad.

I actually didnt quit. My boss told me to leave and I said ok. I was asked to leave. I have filed for unemployment and put the reason as discharged/fired.

If i am denied becasue I know thtey are going to fight it. i will appeal adn I will conatct the labor board and let them know waht really goes on here. I hope they just leave me alone.