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pregnant, fired & violation of company policy unemployment

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sneezyB

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Tennessee I got fired two weeks ago tomorrow because I was keeping a record of my hours, and my bosses hours at work (stupid!) in a password protected excel file. I say this to let you know that it wasn't something she just stumbled across, it was very hidden.

I started doing this because she was a horrible bully, accusing me of missing work all the time and she was lying about when I was there and when I wasn't. She said these things to my director who is about 3 hours away. And she was never there, she took average 2 hour lunches, came in late-- she was a disgusting hypocrite. It got ramped up and even worse as soon as I told her I was pregnant. I had other people examine the emails she was sending me, older wiser people because I didn't know what to do about the way she kept attacking me. And they told me it had nothing to do with my performance, that this was a personality issue and there was no way I could influence her. She was the only other person in the office.

After one incident, I called the ED to talk to her about what was going on, she wasn't in so I left a message. She didn't call me back but instead called my boss to ask her why I'd called and if it was in relation to the talk we'd just had? My boss was so angry she literally went pale and she told me this staring at me like she wished I'd burst into flames. It was the kind of thing where I loved my actual job and excelled in it in spite of her-- and all I ever got was criticism and and this mysterious rage from her. So I started keeping records, in anger, and those records contained comments about her which were filled with obscenities. I never showed this to anyone. I was planning on making it more professional and using it to protect myself when she tried to have me fired-- I can at least see the writing on the wall. She became intensely dissatisfied with me after I made 3x's as much money as I was supposed to and searched my computer-- this was instead of praising me because I did such a fantastic job. I was a great employee.

Ok, I got fired, it was my own stupid fault and I see that. The thing is, I'm almost 5 months pregnant and I'm going to go on pregnancy leave, no matter where I work at the end of October. Are they going to deny me unemployment insurance benefits? They fired me under their policy on workplace violence because of the language I used in that document, even though no one had ever seen it or was going to to apart from HR. I never actually threatened her or made one snide comment to her, she went looking for it.

Working there literally drove me into therapy, I would go into work with my stomach in knots just hoping she'd take an especially long lunch and leave early so I'd have to spend less time around her. My blood pressure went up. She apologized to me on many occasions because she would be so hateful I would start to glaze over. It took so much self restraint not to quit, like everyday. And I was venting in that file.

I've been talking to attornies but no one will give me a yes or no, you have no leg to stand on. They just want charge me a consultation fee. One guy told me he wouldn't file my case but he didn't say why. There are lots of details to this situation, I'm not certain that she showed the entire thing to HR, it was, even though peppered with curse words and nasty comments, full of things she shouldn't have been doing. And it was only kept from 4/18 until 5/25. I want 6 months salary and paid insurance bennies until my baby is born and I can go back to work. I feel like, yes, I had a lot of bad things to say about her but she and the organization I worked for failed me in dealing with the situation in our office properly and with any fairness at all. I really do want justice and this was not all my fault, not some maniac thing I was doing for no reason. Please help me. Thanks.
 


Beth3

Senior Member
So I started keeping records, in anger, and those records contained comments about her which were filled with obscenities. Keeping such records on your employer's IT system was an incredibly lousy idea.

I was planning on making it more professional and using it to protect myself when she tried to have me fired These records, even cleaned up, would not have provided you with any legal protection if your boss decided to fire you.

She became intensely dissatisfied with me after I made 3x's as much money as I was supposed to and searched my computer-- this was instead of praising me because I did such a fantastic job. I was a great employee. Management was completely within their rights to search your electronic files.

The thing is, I'm almost 5 months pregnant and I'm going to go on pregnancy leave, no matter where I work at the end of October. Are they going to deny me unemployment insurance benefits? They fired me under their policy on workplace violence because of the language I used in that document, even though no one had ever seen it or was going to to apart from HR. I never actually threatened her or made one snide comment to her, she went looking for it. The State will make the decision but given the content of those files, I expect your employer can make a reasonable argument that you engaged in willful misconduct and thus that benefits should be denied.

I've been talking to attornies but no one will give me a yes or no, you have no leg to stand on. They just want charge me a consultation fee. One guy told me he wouldn't file my case but he didn't say why I expect that's because you don't have one. Even accepting that your boss was Statan personified, the employer didn't act illegally in any regard.

I'm not certain that she showed the entire thing to HR, it was, even though peppered with curse words and nasty comments, full of things she shouldn't have been doing. And it was only kept from 4/18 until 5/25. You're the subordinate, not the supervisor. Among other things, it's not up to you to monitor your supervisor's comings and goings.

I want 6 months salary and paid insurance bennies until my baby is born and I can go back to work. I feel like, yes, I had a lot of bad things to say about her but she and the organization I worked for failed me in dealing with the situation in our office properly and with any fairness at all. I really do want justice and this was not all my fault, not some maniac thing I was doing for no reason. I can see no reason why your employer would be willing to provide you with any salary or insurance benefits. Your boss may indeed be the worst boss in the world but you did not handle the sitaution at all appropriately. While your employer did not need "cause" to terminate you, you gave them an excellent reason to do so.
 

sneezyB

Junior Member
Beth, thanks for your reply. I have another quwestion or two, they've already offered me some bennies and some severance pay. Not much and I have to sign a letter saying I was in violation of company policy on workplace violence. Violence? I can't accept that. If I say that then have a document signed by me to fight unemployment bennies. My conduct wasn't "willful" I was trying to defend myself. (Yeah, I know it was stupid.) If they're making these offers to me, does that mean I have more leverage than you think?
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
No. Offering you any benefits or severance does not remotely mean that the company was in the wrong or that you have any legal recourse they are trying to hide from you.
 

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