Is it Wrong how I was terminated?

[txmarine]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas
I was wondering if someone could help me. I was recently terminated from my place of employment not because of an investigation that was done but because according to my boss I failed to inform him about a personal issue. Which is false. I asked before I was employed and during my first week of employment if me being a rape victim would cause me to not be selected for work or terminated and I was told no. I informed him and my training instructor about my situation and about my protective order. They said I'd be fine and if he came around to let them know and they'd call proper authorities. I had issues with this person for months at home not work and my supervisors knew to include my boss. This was last year. Now after a complaint was filed against me then closed due to not having found anything to hold true to the complaint I was called in and fired for my personal reason. I told them I was not aware that I could be fired for being a rape victim and being blamed for the dangerous history the person who raped me had. They said sorry and goodbye. Is this right or wrong? Was I wrongfully terminated?

 

[cbg]

What kind of complaint was filed against you?

Why do you think that you were fired for being a rape victim?

 

[txmarine]

I reported a guy for improper gestures and harassment and my supervisors spoke to the guy. Days later he filed a complaint against me that days before I reported him I had supposedly touched him inappropriately which that day in question was captured on camera and it could not be proven. Why? Because it didn't happen he was just upset because I reported him.

Why I think that? Because that's the reason why I was having trouble with the guy I had a protective order against. He has a criminal record and I wasn't aware of everything just that he's assaulted many woman to include me. I informed my workplace about my situation and nobody every said anything. I had to miss work for court several times which they knew the reason and didn't say anything. Now that the complaints were filed and dismissed, all of a sudden it's an issue and I'm being terminated.

What kind of complaint was filed against you?

Why do you think that you were fired for being a rape victim?[/QUOTE]

 

[Ladyback1]

I reported a guy for improper gestures and harassment and my supervisors spoke to the guy. Days later he filed a complaint against me that days before I reported him I had supposedly touched him inappropriately which that day in question was captured on camera and it could not be proven. Why? Because it didn't happen he was just upset because I reported him.

Why I think that? Because that's the reason why I was having trouble with the guy I had a protective order against. He has a criminal record and I wasn't aware of everything just that he's assaulted many woman to include me. I informed my workplace about my situation and nobody every said anything. I had to miss work for court several times which they knew the reason and didn't say anything. Now that the complaints were filed and dismissed, all of a sudden it's an issue and I'm being terminated.

What kind of complaint was filed against you?

Why do you think that you were fired for being a rape victim?

[/QUOTE]

I'm still not understanding exactly how the two situation correlate...

 

[txmarine]

They don't that's my point. I was placed on suspension pending the investigation for the complaint and it was closed. Then I get called in after the investigation is closed and fired not for that but my personal issues in another county.

 

[commentator]

I hope you filed for unemployment insurance as soon as you were terminated. While in an at-will state like Texas, the employer can fire you at will for any reason, including being involved in some sort of personal drama, the unemployment system will very likely not consider this a "valid work related reason to terminate".

That is they probably won't unless you have been creating a disturbance at work, have been warned, have been so upset you didn't get any work done, or something that's related to the situation that's happening at your work. In any case, you need to file for unemployment right away, and this investigation will help to establish just exactly why the employer says you have been terminated. It costs nothing to file and there is no down side to doing it.

I am almost reading this as that you and your rapist both work at the same place. Is this the circumstance? I don't quite get exactly why it is such a big deal that he said, you said, you accused, he accused....why is that so relevant to your being fired?

Actually in my experience this behavior in employers is quite common. Crime victims, people arrested for crimes, many times the employer will terminate them simply because their presence is a disruption in the workplace or because the employees are all talking about it or because they simply do not want the drama. If there's a chance the attacker will come on the premises and create a stir, or that you will be missing work, or in a public place such as a restaurant that your customers will be interested due to media attention, you're pretty likely to get terminated. Unemployment insurance is pretty much your only recourse.

 

[cbg]

WHAT REASON were you given when you were fired? I don't want your assumptions of why they did it, I want to know exactly what reason they told you.

 

[txmarine]

Commentator- I did file for unemployment and no we do not work together. He was an ex boyfriend I had the year before I started working. He assaulted me which ended with me having a baby and then again in attempts to lose the baby. I filed charges and a protective order in 2012. He's continued to harass me and stalk me. They knew because it's a corrections facility and I wanted to assure he couldn't be housed there but he couldn't. I worked and no he hadn't been there nor had he cause problems for me. I did my work well. So after 9 months of working I'm let go because of his terrible criminal history.

Cbg- they said I violated the code of ethics because I failed to inform them I was involved with someone who had been incarcerated and had a known criminal history. I said I had told them about my personal issue and the protective order I had. I started working for them in 2013 until last month when they let me go. I had read the rules about relationships which my situation did not fall into any catagory. If at any point he was incarcerated in our facility I was to immediately inform my supervisors. But he's a state criminal not a federal criminal.

 

[Shadowbunny]

************** they said I violated the code of ethics because I failed to inform them I was involved with someone who had been incarcerated and had a known criminal history. I said I had told them about my personal issue and the protective order I had. I started working for them in 2013 until last month when they let me go. I had read the rules about relationships which my situation did not fall into any catagory. If at any point he was incarcerated in our facility I was to immediately inform my supervisors. But he's a state criminal not a federal criminal.

From what you said above, it appears that you told them you were a rape victim but not that the perpetrator was incarcerated. If so, you weren't terminated for being a crime victim, you were term'd because you violated the code of ethics.

 

[commentator]

Doesn't matter. They'll hash all this, whether or not the OP followed the policies, etc., in the unemployment decisions. But otherwise, especially in Texas, it doesn't matter. They can still fire you just because. Or for a less than accurate or fair or even intelligent reason.
By the way, how is the unemployment situation coming along? Have you been approved?

Honestly, conventional wisdom is sort of that once someone likes the bad ones, once you've acquired a taste for being in a relationship with a felon, or had a family member who was in the correctional system, or any sort of personal connection with people who are incarcerated in the penal system, state, federal or whatever, you're going to be a real bad hiring decision in a correctional facility. There's a clear cut "us against them" philosophy and they're not looking for people who may see both sides of the issues. This may be what drove them to get rid of you once they figured out the whole picture.