What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
I have a question about a termination.. My girlfriend and I worked at the same place, I've been here for a few months, she has for about a month.
On Monday, our boss was out of town on business and her husband came instead. He does all the accounting and was here teaching my girlfriend a few things about Quickbooks since she was supposed to add the inventory, customer info, payroll, etc. Well, their conversation turned to payroll and he was showing her how everything worked, after a couple of hours it was winding down and he asked if she had anymore questions;
She asked, what I feel is a legitimate question, when are the set pay dates. It's a new business and we'd been curious about this for a few weeks since at first it was 'pay periods are 1-15 and 16-end of the month.' After that it was 'every other Friday' and a while later turned back into '1-15, 16-end of the month'. I understand the pay PERIODS are 1-15, 16-EOM, but there are no set pay dates.. It's basically, we come in one day and SURPRISE, it's pay day.. So the two of them are discussing this, he explains a little more than his wife is able to, but still it's very vague and in the end there is still no actual "you get paid on the Xth day of the month -or- you get paid on Xday of the week." Anyway, it's getting close to closing time, so we basically just accept the answer.. Even though we both know (they are from FL) that in CA, there has to be a designated pay date or day.
We come into work yesterday (Tues) and our manager, the wife, informs my girlfriend that because she asked her husband as opposed to her that it "hurt her feelings" and she was being let go. Gave her the paycheck and she left.
The manager made it very clear that it wasn't a power thing and it wasn't about going over her head or anything, which it really wasn't, they were just on the topic of payroll and the question came up... She explained that it was because as far as she was concerned, the topic had been covered thoroughly and she was under the impression that we understood everything about the pay. She went on a spiel about how she thinks of us like family and us being uncomfortable to ask her that question hurt her feelings.
The manager and I had a very lengthy conversation after the girlfriend left and from that I figured out exactly what happened:
- She thought we understood everything about the pay... To which I replied that we do understand the pay periods, but there must be designated pay days. I referred her to the CA Labor Law poster with blank pay day fields (which are filled in today.. funny.)
- Her husband went home and got onto her saying "Why is this girl at work asking me this? You should have covered this long ago." She even told me that her husband called it a "legitimate question".
- She got upset that her husband nagged at her about having to explain it to us.
- My girlfriend gets fired.
Is this right? I've always believed, and can't find anything that differs, that I have the right to ask about my pay any time. I have the right to know when I'm going to get paid, I have the right to see my payment records or voice any dispute that I have concerning my pay. Our only concern was that it's tough to budget our money when the designated pay dates are whenever our boss gets around to calling ADP.
Also, does my girlfriend not 'officially' being on the payroll have to do with anything? She'd filled out the W-2, turned it in, but they have not put her on the payroll with ADP yet.
Thank you.
I have a question about a termination.. My girlfriend and I worked at the same place, I've been here for a few months, she has for about a month.
On Monday, our boss was out of town on business and her husband came instead. He does all the accounting and was here teaching my girlfriend a few things about Quickbooks since she was supposed to add the inventory, customer info, payroll, etc. Well, their conversation turned to payroll and he was showing her how everything worked, after a couple of hours it was winding down and he asked if she had anymore questions;
She asked, what I feel is a legitimate question, when are the set pay dates. It's a new business and we'd been curious about this for a few weeks since at first it was 'pay periods are 1-15 and 16-end of the month.' After that it was 'every other Friday' and a while later turned back into '1-15, 16-end of the month'. I understand the pay PERIODS are 1-15, 16-EOM, but there are no set pay dates.. It's basically, we come in one day and SURPRISE, it's pay day.. So the two of them are discussing this, he explains a little more than his wife is able to, but still it's very vague and in the end there is still no actual "you get paid on the Xth day of the month -or- you get paid on Xday of the week." Anyway, it's getting close to closing time, so we basically just accept the answer.. Even though we both know (they are from FL) that in CA, there has to be a designated pay date or day.
We come into work yesterday (Tues) and our manager, the wife, informs my girlfriend that because she asked her husband as opposed to her that it "hurt her feelings" and she was being let go. Gave her the paycheck and she left.
The manager made it very clear that it wasn't a power thing and it wasn't about going over her head or anything, which it really wasn't, they were just on the topic of payroll and the question came up... She explained that it was because as far as she was concerned, the topic had been covered thoroughly and she was under the impression that we understood everything about the pay. She went on a spiel about how she thinks of us like family and us being uncomfortable to ask her that question hurt her feelings.
The manager and I had a very lengthy conversation after the girlfriend left and from that I figured out exactly what happened:
- She thought we understood everything about the pay... To which I replied that we do understand the pay periods, but there must be designated pay days. I referred her to the CA Labor Law poster with blank pay day fields (which are filled in today.. funny.)
- Her husband went home and got onto her saying "Why is this girl at work asking me this? You should have covered this long ago." She even told me that her husband called it a "legitimate question".
- She got upset that her husband nagged at her about having to explain it to us.
- My girlfriend gets fired.
Is this right? I've always believed, and can't find anything that differs, that I have the right to ask about my pay any time. I have the right to know when I'm going to get paid, I have the right to see my payment records or voice any dispute that I have concerning my pay. Our only concern was that it's tough to budget our money when the designated pay dates are whenever our boss gets around to calling ADP.
Also, does my girlfriend not 'officially' being on the payroll have to do with anything? She'd filled out the W-2, turned it in, but they have not put her on the payroll with ADP yet.
Thank you.
