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left hanging, not fired?

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sharon36

Junior Member
:confused:What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania. My son had recently been in contact with human resources where he works to get help. He has filed a racial harrassment claim against another employee, which has been fired because of it. His place of employment has also gone as far as to fire the asst. supervisor for failing to help when asked to. My son has been out of work {never fired}, for 2 wks. now w/no pay and no answers as to what is going on. Human resources told him they are waiting for a written response from manager {which also under investigation for same reason}. They said they try to get in contact w/him every day with no response. My son was told by human resources he still is able to work, but has to wait for this to be done. Is there anything he can do to speed things up? Is he able to get paid for this time or can he collect unemployment?
 


Beth3

Senior Member
We need some clarification. Your son made a complaint of racial harassment and was subsequently suspended by the employer???
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
The answer to both questions is, possibly.

While unless his state has a quirky law I don't think his employer will be REQUIRED to pay him for this time, it is by no means impossible that the employer may opt to pay him once he gets back to work. It is not unusual for an employer to make pay for this kind of a situation retroactive. On the other hand, it's not a guarantee.

It's also possible, depending on his state law, that he MIGHT be eligible for unemployment. However, IF he receives UI and his employer offers retro pay, he'll have to pay the UI back. It's also not outside the realm of possibility that his employer may cancel any plans to pay him when they receive the UI claim.

I can't advise him which way to go. I can only tell him that either option is possible but neither is guaranteed; nor is the employer required by law to pay him.

There is nothing he can do to speed things up. There's really no way to control the length of time it takes to make this kind of investigation.

Has he asked HR about payment, or about the possibility of UI? They're the ones he needs to be asking.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Just saw Beth's reply. I assumed it was administrative leave, not suspension. I can think of circumstances where that would be entirely appropriate, and for the protection of the employee who made the complaint. That's also why I think it likely that retro pay is a possibility.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
I can think of situations where that would be appropriate too. I just am wondering whether he is on administrative leave while they investigated or whether some other status. Since the poster is writing about her son who may be a minor and/or working a part-time job, it's possible he hasn't been put on the schedule since he made the complaint.
 

sharon36

Junior Member
Beth3 said:
We need some clarification. Your son made a complaint of racial harassment and was subsequently suspended by the employer???
He hasn't been suspended. He was told by human resources that they need to investigate the other half of the complaint. My son's supervisor just keeps refusing to send anything in writing as needed by human resources. My son feels his supervisor is just taking his time just for spite! There is no other reason for this to be happening. My son was a good employee, never took a day off, went in on days off when called. He had taken his first scheduled day off in 3 wks. and they were upset about it.
 

sharon36

Junior Member
Beth3 said:
What is the other half of the complaint? Has someone made an allegation against your son?
No. They said they need to investigate both sides of what happened. The last day my son had worked, he had called me to see what he should do, because the harrassment of the person he had complained about and the asst. manager was too much to put up with. They had also been harrassing him for taking his scheduled time off, they said he should have been in work. They never called to ask him to go in. He had asked the asst. manager if he could leave for the day so he could speak w/the manager about what has been going on for the day, he said yes. When my son called the manager to ask if he's able to go to work he ignored his calls. We actually had to block our phone numbers to get them to answer their phones. My son had since found out that the asst. manager and the one harrassing him had lied and told the manager that my son left cursing and said he quit! Whick none of that ever happened. They later admitted they had lied about my son and how he left for the day. Since then, he's been dealing w/human resources and they said he still has his job, he has to wait for a written explanation of what they said happened.
 

sharon36

Junior Member
cbg said:
Just saw Beth's reply. I assumed it was administrative leave, not suspension. I can think of circumstances where that would be entirely appropriate, and for the protection of the employee who made the complaint. That's also why I think it likely that retro pay is a possibility.
No that's not the case. Human resources said he still has his job. There wasn't any mention of admistrative leave.
 

sharon36

Junior Member
Beth3 said:
We need some clarification. Your son made a complaint of racial harassment and was subsequently suspended by the employer???
The employer did write a termination notice, {without speaking w/my son} because the asst. manager that was on for the day lied and said my son quit. My son was never asked by the manager what had happened and he never gave my son an opportunity to explain things {not for lack of trying}, before writing the termination notice. Despite all that, after my son had explained things to human resources, they said he still has his job.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
I have to admit that I don't understand why your son's employer is still keeping him off work. Apparently they had enough information to fire the co-worker who was harassing him and the Assistant Manager who refused/failed to intervene but they don't have enough info to return him to work? I just don't get that. Unless they're paying him for the time off work, this certainly has the potential to appear like retaliation for bringing the harassment complaint.

I can only suggest your son contact HR again and very nicely suggest that their failure to reinstate him is starting to look like retaliation and that he's sure they don't intend to do that and ask when they're going to return him to work. That should hopefully get the ball moving.
 

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