I was laid off, boss says I was fired due to insubordination so he wont have to pay.

[galeron]

New York

About 8 weeks ago I was terminated from my job of 10 months. MY ex-boss was playing games with my pay, and deducting as he saw fit. When I stood up to him and demanded my pay, he fired me. He hadn't been taking a salary himself (this was a very small business, but incorporated), he was paying his bills out of the business, and he had told me a few times earlier in my employment that this would have to change or he would be in major tax trouble.

He fires me a few months before tax time, and immediately begins taking my salary for himself. I was not replaced. Sounds like I was set up into having that confrontation with him that led to my termination. You guessed it, so that he wouldn't have to pay unemployment!

I apply for unemployment insurance, and bang in about 2 weeks I get my first check, things are looking good, I can pay the bills etc... After my second check I received a questionnaire in the mail regarding my claim, stating that I would need to fill out the questionairre (regarding why I lost my employment), send it back and I would receive an answer within 3 weeks. It also stated that my payments would be put on hold, but I should continue claiming every week, and following the "investigation" I would receive the missed payments in one lump sum.

It has now been 8 weeks!! I am drowning in debt, I have one decent outfit to wear to job interviews, I have lost weight because I can't eat as much, I missed 2 credit card paymets, I have no medical insurance to pay for my medication, nor do I have the $300 a month to shell out for cobra, let alone the $250 for car insurance. Pretty soon I will end up selling everything I own and ending up going back to Mom's I picture.

I have heard nothing from the people at the Dept of Labor. I have called numerous times and anytime I get a real person on the line they forward me to someone elses voicemail (who never calls back) and they refuse to help me or even answer questions.

I just don't know what to do......I SHOULD be getting unemployment.

Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, etc...?

 

[Son of Slam]

Get a job.

 

[JETX]

Your post is not clear on the reason you were terminated, but implies that you had a confrontation with your employer.

If the investigation finds that you were terminated 'with cause' (as a result of your own action or inaction), they will probably deny your claim for unemployment compensation.

Your post says nothing about any of your efforts in trying to find a job. Don't wait around for them to be your 'pot of gold'. Get out there and get a job.... and pay your bills.

 

[galeron]

I am actually working doing some consulting here and there recently, but I am finding it difficult to find Full time work, and I get more from unemployment than from part time work.

I was fired because I had multiple arguments with my boss over my paycheck. I was a salary employee, and he had docked my pay without warning. He calculated my hours that pay period to be less than my salary and simply took money out of my paycheck (which had been the same every pay period since Ive worked there). I had come in a bit late a few days that pay period and I was docked for them, but I was not paid for any of the hours I had stayed late EVER. At some points I had worked 60 hour workweeks and was never paid anything more than my regular salary, and I was on-call 24-7, but I was never paid a dime more.
I looked it up, found out it wasn't legal for him to dock my pay like that, and I brought it to his attention and demanded my pay. He refused and told me that if I didn't like it I should leave. I didn't leave because I didn't have any other job to go to at the time, and my understand was that if I quit I wouldn't get unemployment. The first day I brought this up to him, he eventually started screaming at me and kicked me out and told me to come back in the morning and drop the subject. I arrived in the morning about 20 minutes late and I asked him if I was going to be docked for the time I was late and he screamed at me again, very loud and in my face, and I asked him not to speak to me in that manner (no employee or human being deserves that), and he replied that he would speak to me any way he wished and I replied "Thank you for clarifying that, if that is how it is, then I know what I need to do." I was screamed at some more and fired shortly thereafter.

This was a very small business, and the hours which I was late were always made up for if not exceeded by the extra hours I put in (weekends and evenings) and this was fine with my boss until he all of a sudden docked my pay. No warning, nothing. The business had not been doing well for a while and my boss was not taking a salary for himself, but instead paying his bills out of the business and writing business checks out to himself which come tax time would pose a problem. When I was fired, noone replaced me, my boss simply took over my duties and my salary (sounds like being laid off doesn't it?). This happened just a few months before tax time, and seems like more than a coincidence.

I believe that he provoked me into arguing with him by cutting my pay in order to fire me and not have to pay higher unemployment premiums. All they would have to do is look at his payroll and see that up until my termination date I was getting x dollars a week, and now he who was previously getting nothing is getting the x dollars that I was making.

Problem is I can't get in touch with ANYONE who will help me. Every number they give me brings me to a machine, and if you finally get someone on the phone, you tell them your story and then they forward you to Mrs so-and-so who never calls you back.

Do I need a lawyer?

 

[cbg]

Not yet you don't. What you need to do first is get in touch with the state Department of Labor and file a complaint. It is ILLEGAL to dock the pay of an exempt employee except in VERY specific circumstances, and the ONLY time it is legal to dock an exempt employee on a partial day basis is if the employee is on FMLA. He can NEVER dock an exempt for being late.

And if by chance you should not have been exempt and it was legal to dock your pay, then it was illegal to not pay overtime. He can't have it both ways. Either you're exempt and you get your whole salary every week, or you're non-exempt and you get OT when you work over 40 hours in a week. Period.

According to the web site of the State of NY DOL, you are best served by going to one of their offices personally, rather than filing your complaint by phone. The attached link will bring you to a list of their offices.

http://www.labor.state.ny.us/business_ny/employer_responsibilities/workprot/lsdists.htm

 

[galeron]

Sorry, but what do you mean by exempt?

Is it also illegal to deny me the full healthcare I was promised (and is company policy as well) when I was employed? I asked for said benefits many times and I was told that "the business couldn't afford it", but my boss was receiving these benefits himself, as well as his live-in girlfriend who didn't even work there. She was however, cut a very small check every week to make it look kosher.

I plan on making a trip down to the DOL wednesday morning, and hoping for the best. Many people have told me that it's a waste of time going in person and that you get the run-around, but maybe I will get lucky and get someone helpful.

Thanks alot for your time in reading my long posts (sorry but I think details help), and for responding to them!

 

[cbg]

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employee must be paid overtime for any hours over 40 in a week, UNLESS they fall into one of the categories that are exempt from overtime. In legal and HR parlance, an "exempt" employee.

Your job duties are what determines whether you qualify as exempt or not. There are several types of exemptions. An exempt employee is paid on a salaried basis (with a couple of exceptions that do not apply here), but being paid on salary is not what makes you exempt. For the most part, if you are paid hourly you are non-exempt; if you are paid salary you are not necessarily exempt. (It is legal to pay a non-exempt on a salaried basis as long as you ALSO pay them whatever OT is earned.)

Neither Federal nor New York law requires them to provide you with health benefits. Whether he has broken any laws in failing to do so depends on the exact wording of the plan document.

 

[galeron]

Thanks again, hopefully the next post in this thread from me will be about good things happening at the DOL.

 

[galeron]

Just one more thing.......Does the fact the the business is incorporated change anything?

 

[cbg]

No.

 

[dorko101]

Why don't you reporting him to IRS for fraud?

 

[galeron]

I don't want to be malicious (although I am really pissed).

Actually, as an update, I just received a call from the DOL investigator who was working my case and he said that he was ruling in my favor!!!

Now I can use the back unemployment (about $2500) to pay the bills I've accrued since then. This is great news.

Thanks again to all who helped!
=)

 

[dorko101]

malicious? hardly. It's called the Right Thing(TM) to do. IANAL, but it seems he knows it's wrong and does it anyway. Whatever tax he doesn't pay, you me and society in general would have to pay it.