Wrongful termination?

[jthmfreak]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? california.

Today i was terminated from my job. I worked in a restaurant. The other day my busser was under the influence and I was aware, I did not bring that to mgmts attn. They also claim the register was short and I was the last to use it. I was told my not telling mgmt about the busser was very irresponsible and showed bad character. so long story short I was let go. I was told if I resigned then they would give me a good reference in the future, so I resigned. Since my employment was "at will" do i even have any kind of case? I take it I can't get unemployment since I technically resigned.

 

[cbg]

Even if employment was not at-will you likely wouldn't have any kind of case. It is perfectly legal to fire you for not bringing the busser's intoxication to the attention of management, or to fire you because your register was short. And before you ask, no, it does not mean you are being accused of stealing it; simply that you failed to (1) correctly balance or (2) prevent a theft.

By all means file for unemployment. The worst that can happen is that they say no, in which case you are no worse off than if you didn't file in the first place. If you do apply, you may or may not receive benefits; if you don't apply, you definitely won't. There is no penalty for being wrong.

 

[swalsh411]

File for unemployment while you look for a new job.

 

[Betty]

No, no wrongful termination case here.

Even though you ended up resigning, file for UI. It never hurts to file. Also, look for other employment.

Good luck.

 

[commentator]

What they did was actually "force a quit." In other words, you were given no choice, no options, no way you could change your behavior and keep the job. It was "quit or be fired, and if you agree to quit, we'll give you a better recommendation." Be sure you tell the unemployment system that, don't just mark that you voluntarily quit the job. You were fired, probably without a valid misconduct reason, and all they're trying to do is avoid paying higher taxes because you received unemployment benefits.