do i have any recourse?

[l1981]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee
Several months ago I complained about a person at work (somewhat of a supervisor) calling me f-ing retard, idiot, piece of s, and several other names. It continued so I asked a supervisor to keep me from working with him. No one said that was an issue and I wasn't scheduled with him. Last week I discovered that we were supposed to work together. I told my supervisor i didn't want to work with him and reminded her of the issues. She sent me home because i refused an order. Now, I haven't been scheduled to work at all. My position is on an as needed basis and i haven't been needed. the one day i was scheduled, i received a text saying i didn't need to come because they were overstaffed. My position requires that i work a certain amount of hours each quarter or my employer will eliminate my employment with the understanding that i have resigned. Now what? I'm just devastated.

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee
Several months ago I complained about a person at work (somewhat of a supervisor) calling me f-ing retard, idiot, piece of s, and several other names. It continued so I asked a supervisor to keep me from working with him. No one said that was an issue and I wasn't scheduled with him. Last week I discovered that we were supposed to work together. I told my supervisor i didn't want to work with him and reminded her of the issues. She sent me home because i refused an order. Now, I haven't been scheduled to work at all. My position is on an as needed basis and i haven't been needed. the one day i was scheduled, i received a text saying i didn't need to come because they were overstaffed. My position requires that i work a certain amount of hours each quarter or my employer will eliminate my employment with the understanding that i have resigned. Now what? I'm just devastated.

File for UI. I see no illegal activity here.

Someone else will stop by and advise whether or not you may have a problem with UI. since you effectively quit.

 

[l1981]

one more question..

File for UI. I see no illegal activity here.

Someone else will stop by and advise whether or not you may have a problem with UI. since you effectively quit.

I haven't quit. I haven't been scheduled to work since I was sent home. If they don't allow me to get the required amount of hours in each quarter, they eliminate my position and assume I am resigning. they haven't scheduled me to work, despite my phone calls, since the incident. Also, I'm new...what's a UI. Thanks

 

[Zigner]

I haven't quit. I haven't been scheduled to work since I was sent home. If they don't allow me to get the required amount of hours in each quarter, they eliminate my position and assume I am resigning. they haven't scheduled me to work, despite my phone calls, since the incident. Also, I'm new...what's a UI. Thanks

You refused to work where and when assigned...

 

[Proserpina]

I haven't quit. I haven't been scheduled to work since I was sent home. If they don't allow me to get the required amount of hours in each quarter, they eliminate my position and assume I am resigning. they haven't scheduled me to work, despite my phone calls, since the incident. Also, I'm new...what's a UI. Thanks

UI = unemployment insurance. The money you (sometimes) get when you're unemployed.

I agree with Zigner. You refused to do your job....

 

[commentator]

Anytime you are off work without pay, by the employer's choice,you are out of work through no fault of your own. You are able and available, and they are telling you that no work is available for you. So file for unemployment insurance immediately. They may say that you were terminated for refusing to work a required shift. You will say that you requested not to work a shift with this person because you had problems with him. The supervisor probably told you "work it or go home."
You elected to go home. Right off hand, I'd say they're not going to give you any more work. This is a termination in my humble opinion. To try to keep you from being approved for unemployment, they'll probably say you quit. It is much harder for them to show unemployment that they fired an employee with a valid misconduct reason than that the employee just walked off and quit of their own free will. So being fired is not such a bad thing, especially for one situation, where you had already made the employer aware of your problems with this employee.

You should file for benefits on the state system, and may, if you've been working more than 18 months for a covered employer in the last 2 years, have enough benefits to set up a claim. Then unemployment will research the situation, contacting the employer to find out what they say is the reason you are no longer working there, and getting your statement.

Before you quit a job due to working conditions, such as a co worker who was verbally abusive to you, you should try to resolve the situation. You did this, asking management not to schedule the two of you together. That was good, and for a while, they accommodated your request.Then they apparently forgot, or it got necessary for them to do it and they decided to co-schedule you with this person, in spite of your request. This was pretty much okay for them to do this, there wasn't really anything illegal about their ignoring your request. You have no legal right to demand that you never be asked to work with this person ever again. But you should stress to unemployment that you were not quitting the job, you just elected not to take this shift to work with this person. You did not intend it to lead to your termination.

"If they don't allow me to work a certain number of hours, they eliminate my position and say I have resigned" is a bunch of hocus pocus on their part. If they eliminate your position, or don't give you any hours, then you are out of work through no fault of your own, this isn't a voluntary quit. They're just trying to avoid paying higher unemployment taxes by making people think they shouldn't file a claim for benefits. File at once, and see what comes of it. They may decide to call you back to work to make sure you don't get approved for benefits.

 

[ecmst12]

Did you actually refuse to work or did you simply request to be rescheduled because of the issue?

 

[l1981]

Did you actually refuse to work or did you simply request to be rescheduled because of the issue?

I work in an operating room, so I asked to be placed in a different room.

 

[Zigner]

It is much harder for them to show unemployment that they fired an employee with a valid misconduct reason than that the employee just walked off and quit of their own free will. So being fired is not such a bad thing, especially for one situation, where you had already made the employer aware of your problems with this employee.

Based on the OP's further explanation of his/her position (an OR attendant of some sort), would your view change? It's entirely possible that the OP caused the employer a large financial hit or could have placed lives in jeopardy by his/her insubordination.

 

[cbg]

The person at work who called you names was very rude. I don't blame you for being upset.

It is not illegal to be rude. While it would be nice of your employer to tell the person to stop being rude, they are not obligated to do so. Nor are they obligated to move you or separate you because someone is being rude.

 

[LdiJ]

Based on the OP's further explanation of his/her position (an OR attendant of some sort), would your view change? It's entirely possible that the OP caused the employer a large financial hit or could have placed lives in jeopardy by his/her insubordination.

I dunno...wouldn't it be just as likely that the tension of having to work with someone abusive like that would potentially place lives at risk? It also seems to me like if the OP had been needed that badly, that the employer would have switched him out with someone else in a different operating room in order to avoid a large financial loss or lives in jeopardy...and then possibly fired him AFTER the shift.

 

[Zigner]

I dunno...wouldn't it be just as likely that the tension of having to work with someone abusive like that would potentially place lives at risk? It also seems to me like if the OP had been needed that badly, that the employer would have switched him out with someone else in a different operating room in order to avoid a large financial loss or lives in jeopardy...and then possibly fired him AFTER the shift.

You make good points. However, we don't know that the other person wasn't already reprimanded and that the behavior would still occur. We also don't know the staffing situation at the time this occurred.

 

[STEPHAN]

I am asking myself if there is more to the story.

What happened before that person was rude to you?

 

[cbg]

I dunno...wouldn't it be just as likely that the tension of having to work with someone abusive like that would potentially place lives at risk? It also seems to me like if the OP had been needed that badly, that the employer would have switched him out with someone else in a different operating room in order to avoid a large financial loss or lives in jeopardy...and then possibly fired him AFTER the shift.

If the tension of working with someone who is rude, even REALLY rude, is so severe that it would be placing lives at risk, I don't want the OP in ANY operating room.