What Should I Do?

[lazy912]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Los Angeles, CA

In mid September of 2008 I started working for a gas station. It was a booth where everyone came up to me to pay me and I would open up the pump to them. Since it was only a booth and not a mini mart, my station only had about 5 employees. This is only one of the many stations that the company owned of course. Now, since I was just starting I would be working graveyard shift. The person to come after my shift would be the station manager.

About after two weeks into my job, the station manager asked me to clock him in because he would be a few minutes late. And I did. Then it became habitual, almost everyday he would be roughly 30 minutes late. At first I was hesitant, but one day the supervisor came to the station and asked me if I had been clocking in my manager, to which I answered truthfully. He didn't seem to mind at all.

On a different note, it seems that this supervisor is infatuated with one of the employees at the station, the only girl who's working there. Supervisors have the weekend of and doesn't have to come in, but for some reason this supervisor would always be coming in during the weekends just as the girl's shift is about to start to help her out.

Now, being a gas station and all, we handle a lot of money, mistakes happen and the register goes short every now and then. There are days when the register would be over, but either way, no one is perfect. Out of the five people working there, the girl had the worst case of being short, in a month she would be roughly $200 short, where as I would be around $13 over. Big difference, but she never got suspended or any kind of punishment for being short, thanks to this supervisor's protection.

Now, fast forward to April 2nd 2009. The girl's cellphone goes missing. She blames me, because my shift is directly after hers. I didn't take it so I deny it. In the morning the manager gets there and I show him my pockets that I don't have anything before going home. Around 1 in the afternoon I receive a call from my supervisor saying that I'm suspended and not to come to work tonight. I call up my manager and ask what happened and he told me to just relax and that it'll be okay. the next few days I'm home doing nothing productive. the following Monday my manager says I should go talk to one of the guy who's a step above the supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor. So I did, I made the long trip to Long Beach from Los Angeles. This guy tells me that I'm suspended for clocking in my manager, not about the cellphone case because they cant prove it. He told me to call him next week and he'll give me an update on the situation. Up until June, I continued to call every week only to be told to call back again the next week. Then I receive a letter from the vice president of the company telling me I'm terminated.

What can I do? What should I do? I know it was my fault for clocking in my manager, but why was I only punished? The real reason I'm being punished is because of a careless girl with her cellphone. I've been jobless and denied unemployment benefits and I'm about to get evicted from my apartment soon. any advice would be appreciated.

 

[cbg]

You can appeal the unemployment denial and start looking for another job. Nothing you have posted is illegal.

 

[lazy912]

I already sent in the appeal, been about two weeks and still no reply from the Employment Development Department. As for the things that happened, couldn't they have just told me since that I was fired rather than suspending me? I've been looking for a job, so far even minimum wage and entry level jobs won't even hire.

 

[cbg]

They could have, but they didn't. Nor were they required to do it differently than they did.

 

[commentator]

commentator

Assuming you have already filed for your unemployment insurance and have received an initial letter of denial. This letter should have included instructions to appeal the denial. Assuming you sent this back, and it has been over two weeks, you need to call and check on the status of your appeal. They are under mandate (which, considering they are getting IOU's instead of paychecks, may not be too big with them any more, but anyhow....) to set you up an appeal hearing in a timely manner.

Keep filing weekly certifications for benefits. If you have not been doing this,call the office back and get started. If you were to win your appeal, you would not be back paid for these weeks you are off unless you have been certifying for them, though the initial claim has been denied.

When you have the appeal, state your case clearly and calmly, explain that you were terminated without due process or good misconduct reason. Be sure and bring up that you had already talked to the supervisor about clocking in the other employee, that he had not reprimanded you or sanctioned you in any way, and then in the termination letter says it is a reason you were discharged. You were not given an opportunity to change your behavior or written up. Then they had no conclusive proof you took the girl's cell phone. Two different issues, they do not have a clear cut misconduct reason to terminate.

Yes, they could have terminated you without suspending you. You could have filed for unemployment at that time, forcing them to make a timely decision about your situation. You probably made them quite happy by waiting patiently to be called back till you got the termination letter. You obviously did everything you could to continue the work relationship, this should reflect in your favor.

 

[lazy912]

Thanks commentator, quick question. At first I got the form to file for my weekly benefit but then after the denial, which happened a week later, I stopped getting them. Should I call the unemployment center and ask them to send in the weekly forms?

Happy Independance Day everyone.

 

[commentator]

commentator

Oh yes! First go on line and see if they have a weekly certification arrangement to do it on line. If it won't work for you, because you've now skipped or gotten behind, call, and ask them to send you enough cards to catch you up. You are the one who has to send in the cards to keep certified for each week that passes. Keep up very carefully with the weeks you've been off and make sure you get certified for each one. You're also going to be calling to check on the status of your appeal, also. Please be patient, as these phone lines are very overloaded. Start calling early and persist till you get through to a human being.

You can always do well calling the " unemployment technical support" office of the state unemployment services, which should be listed somewhere on the state webpage.

 

[lazy912]

Thanks a lot, I'll contact the employee development department tomorrow and see if I can get them to send the forms for me to fill out.