Unemployment Law Question

[nemgan]

Hello,

Thanks in advance for any advice on this topic.

My wife has worked for an attorney for almost 3 years now in Colorado (non-hourly / salaried). When she began, she had a normal (generally 40 hours / week), agreed upon work schedule. She went on maternity for 3 months and upon returning, requested and her boss agreed to modify her schedule to 4 days, 32 hours / week, with a day off in the middle of the week to deal with family matters, and with a 20% decrease in schedule, she took a 20% pay cut. I myself work full-time.

For the last 6 months, she has been forced to work significantly more than prior to going on maturity (all documented). She is forced to work on her day off and often works 12 to 18 hour days (This is not an exaggeration). The stress of the job has become unbearable that she will have to resign as her boss is also unreasonable and irrational. The emotional health of our children are also being affected. She has absolutely no time to search for another position.

My understanding is that for an employee to be eligible for unemployment benefits, it has to be because of a job loss that was no fault of the employee. I find this situation as a grey area since the emotional health of herself and our family depends on her leaving this position and the non-documented terms of employment have changed.

If she were to leave, would she be eligible for unemployment benefits if her reason for leaving was to find a reasonable position? Can anyone provide some advice or insight into this topic?

Thanks!

 

[Antigone*]

Hello,

Thanks in advance for any advice on this topic.

My wife has worked for an attorney for almost 3 years now in Colorado (non-hourly / salaried). When she began, she had a normal (generally 40 hours / week), agreed upon work schedule. She went on maternity for 3 months and upon returning, requested and her boss agreed to modify her schedule to 4 days, 32 hours / week, with a day off in the middle of the week to deal with family matters, and with a 20% decrease in schedule, she took a 20% pay cut. I myself work full-time.

For the last 6 months, she has been forced to work significantly more than prior to going on maturity (all documented). She is forced to work on her day off and often works 12 to 18 hour days (This is not an exaggeration). The stress of the job has become unbearable that she will have to resign as her boss is also unreasonable and irrational. The emotional health of our children are also being affected. She has absolutely no time to search for another position.

My understanding is that for an employee to be eligible for unemployment benefits, it has to be because of a job loss that was no fault of the employee. I find this situation as a grey area since the emotional health of herself and our family depends on her leaving this position and the non-documented terms of employment have changed.

If she were to leave, would she be eligible for unemployment benefits if her reason for leaving was to find a reasonable position? Can anyone provide some advice or insight into this topic?

Thanks!

I do not see it your way. If she quits her job, she may not be eligible for unemployment benefits. She should find the new job and then quit.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I suggest you find job for her to apply for and assist her in doing so. My wife snagged an excellent job, that I found.

 

[nemgan]

Thanks for the input. I have browsed an looked for jobs for her and will certainly keep looking. I'm virtually a single parent at this point and my time to assist is limited to a few minutes here and there late at night. Its a very tough market and doing so may take months and she really needs to leave soon, though the financial impact will be tough to bear if she goes a significant amount of time without any income.

Trust me, the last thing I want is public assistance and entitlements, but as we've never needed these benefits, we're not sure how the system works and what exactly constitutes "no-fault" termination. Thanks.

 

[feddey26]

Just to clarify that unemployment is not welfare or government assistance. Unemployment benefits is an insurance plan your company pays premiums into. It is like your auto insurance. When you use that money to pay a claim it is not welfare or taxpayer monies. The more claims a business has, the higher their premiums are.

 

[eerelations]

It is highly unlikely that your wife will be awarded UI benefits if she quits her job. UI benefits are awarded to resigning employees only if they resigned due to ongoing and pervasive illegal harassment and/or discrimination. Nothing in your post indicates that this is what your wife is experiencing.

 

[nemgan]

Thanks and correct, she has never been exposed to any illegal harassment. Her boss did give her a hard time about being pregnant due to the time she would have to take off, though if that is illegal we have no way of legitimately documenting that.

One thing that she has a very difficult time with is what we consider an unsafe environment. There are about a dozen or so staff in the office and she is the only one that has to remain late, almost every night. She feels unsafe alone at night as the area is not safe and security leaves after 6pm, while she is typically there much past that time. She certainly would have never agreed to such conditions prior to joining the firm.

 

[jiggy78]

If she feels unsafe, have her take a pistol class and get a concealed carry permit. It's easy and common in Colorado. She doesn't need and shouldn't tell anybody she carries.

 

[Zigner]

If she feels unsafe, have her take a pistol class and get a concealed carry permit. It's easy and common in Colorado. She doesn't need and shouldn't tell anybody she carries.

Yeah - and when she gets FIRED for violating workplace violence/weapon policies?

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks and correct, she has never been exposed to any illegal harassment. Her boss did give her a hard time about being pregnant due to the time she would have to take off, though if that is illegal we have no way of legitimately documenting that.

One thing that she has a very difficult time with is what we consider an unsafe environment. There are about a dozen or so staff in the office and she is the only one that has to remain late, almost every night. She feels unsafe alone at night as the area is not safe and security leaves after 6pm, while she is typically there much past that time. She certainly would have never agreed to such conditions prior to joining the firm.

That may be one thing that could help her. If she tells her boss that she does not want to be in the office after security has left because she does not feel safe, and he does not cooperate with that, then there might be a little inkling of hope for UI benefits.

 

[commentator]

Okay, my question is this....you say she has been forced to work all these hours, these 12 and 14 hour days, contrary to their agreement before she returned from her maternity leave. How forced? Has anyone said to her, "You will work this shift, or you will be fired!" Has she stated to the boss that she could not work the hours? What has been their response? Has she told them she does not feel safe leaving the job so late, and that she really does need to get home?(and then gotten up and gone home.)

If she talks to her supervisor, the one who agreed to the reduced hours with her back when she was first returning from her leave, and says something to the effect that she can no longer work these extended hours, and that she is going to have to cut back to the reduced hours that they had agreed upon, then what will happen? If he says, "Either work this or you're fired!" then she needs to tell him, "Okay, you'll just have to do what you think is best, I'll not be able to work all this overtime, all these hours. I'm very sorry. I will still be able to work all the hours we agreed on, and for which my salary was reduced. " This is a very big issue. Not only did they have a verbal agreement, she agreed to and I assume received a pay cut for this reduction in hours. So now she's doing more, for less. Her boss must think she's an ideal victim!

And she does not need to resign, she needs to let them terminate her if they insist on doing so. I know this sounds contrary to the thought of most people, they believe that getting terminated is a very terrible thing. But look at it this way, he is bullying her. They had an agreement, albeit a verbal one, and he has repeatedly asked, and she has repeatedly complied with his demands that she work more hours than they agreed upon. Why is she afraid? What can he do, other than terminate her on the spot? That would be pretty dumb of him, since he really appears to like her work. But people will bully you as much as you allow them to.

I strongly suggest that she look for, and you help her look for another job if the continuous emphasis on overtime is such a downside. Though unemployment insurance is NOT a welfare or hand out program, she will find that it is a very small amount of money, and will IN NO WAY replace her salary that she has been making, even if she is approved.

If they flat out fire her, they must, to keep her from being able to receive unemployment benefits, show that they had a good misconduct reason to fire her. Refusal to work overtime, when she had previously established that she was going to work even less than full time, will likely not fall into the category of misconduct. Unless they have some sort of very distinct policy about refusal of overtime, which I rather doubt in a professional firm, it won't be judged to be misconduct or insubordination.

If she quits the job, her chances of getting approved for unemployment insurance are very greatly reduced. Slim to none is about what I'd call it under these circumstances. The first thing they'd ask is "What did you try to do to solve the problem before you quit?" Has she talked about this over scheduling, this demand that she work all these hours? Has she made her employer aware that she feels unsafe walking out of the building late at night? If she simply quits, without trying to resolve the situation with the employer, her chances of getting unemployment insurance are very small.

 

[jiggy78]

Yeah - and when she gets FIRED for violating workplace violence/weapon policies?

You're assuming:

#1. There is such a policy

#2. Anybody would ever find out.

If done properly nobody will ever know. There are scores of people who carry a gun on them at work (legally or not) every day and nobody knows.

 

[Zigner]

You're assuming:

#1. There is such a policy

Umm, it's a law firm.

#2. Anybody would ever find out.

If done properly nobody will ever know. There are scores of people who carry a gun on them at work (legally or not) every day and nobody knows.

Ahh, the old sneak it in and hope they don't find out trick. gotcha

 

[eerelations]

If done properly nobody will ever know. There are scores of people who carry a gun on them at work (legally or not) every day and nobody knows.

If any of these scores of people are my employees, I will fire their butts immediately upon finding out. And I don't need a policy to do this legally.

 

[jiggy78]

And I don't need a policy to do this legally.

Why are you arguing against claims that were never made?

Umm, it's a law firm.

Ahh, the old sneak it in and hope they don't find out trick. gotcha

Sometimes that is neccessary.