wrongful discharge??

[john52]

What is the name of your state?ny I have been working at my job for 6 yrs I was injured in a auto accident on aug 30th 2003 in which my upper back and neck was injured severe muscle sprain and 2 bulging disc c5 and c6 on sept 19th 2003 my doctor took me out of work i was out of work until feb 17th 2004.. my company paid 100% of my wages while i was out of work.. when i returned to work there was alot of tension between me and my manager, he gave me a good evaluation not a great one for 2003, our evaluations are done once a year..In may i got wrote up for work performance on a specific assignment i was working on.. on july 23 2004 i got a call from my daughter in mt saying my mother was in the hospital she has had cancer for 5 yrs anyways i arranged time off from work from 7/26-8/04 subject to change depending on how my mother was doin to fly from ny to mt.. I left on july 25th my mother passed away before i got there.. I called the supervisor of who i was instructed by the manager to call if i needed more time ect.. so i called him on july 26 told him my mom passed away, with my company you get 1 week for death of an immediate family member, so with that i asked if i could return to work on the 8th instead using only 1 week vacation.. of which i had 3 weeks left anyways so i get back on the 8th everything seemed normal then on 8/13 i get a call to the managers office, i walk into his office he says they are terminating me for not reporting back to work on the 5th of aug, supposedly the supervisor said i did not call an ask for this extra 2 days time off.. anyways i belong to a union ibew they were in the middle of negotiations of a new contract so they would not support my termination!!! what a bunch of crap by the way our union is very small and weak.. I've never had much faith in our union since day 1.. anyways i applied for unemployment the company fought benefits saying there was miconduct on my behalf,, anyways we had a hearing which i won the investigator said there was no evidence of exsessive absentees from work i have never been wrote up or even been warned before this.. the state of ny concluded there was no reason for termination.. do i possibly have a wrongful termination case based on these facts...

 

[Beth3]

do i possibly have a wrongful termination case based on these facts... No. Your employer isn't obligated to provide you with vacation time, personal leave time, or bereavement leave at all. If they decided to terminate you under these circumstances, they did not act unlawfully.

Being granted unemployment benefits does not mean your employer has acted unlawfully. It simply means you not unemployed for a reason that would disallow benefits. The UC Division does not rule on whether the employer was right or wrong in discharging the employee.

 

[Katy W.]

However, I do think you may have a charge with the National Labor Relations Board againdst your IBEW local. I worked with that union for 12 years and they should have looked into this for you. I hate to tell anyone to file NLRB charges but I think you should contact them at least.