unemployment? UPDATE! NEED URGENT ADVICE!!!

What is the name of your state? IL

I received a promotion to manager in my company and given a very moderate increase in salary. I thought I'd prove myself in the new position and maybe it would be a topic of discussion at my yearly review. My yearly review was suppose to be last month, but has been postponed six months (because all managers are reviewed at the same time of year). I was now supposed to give a yearly review to one of the employees in my department. I was shocked to see that there wasn't much discrepancy between our salaries despite my years of experience and my position. To give him any raise at all would put him at an equivalent salary to mine. In order to give him a fair raised based on his performance I had to question my own salary, so I asked my manager for a raise.

Her response was that I was “not in the Game” and that I should come up with an exit plan and a time frame for when I would leave. I didn’t know what she meant and asked her what she thought. She told me that I could have a month if I wanted. I asked her what our parting would be considered. She said a layoff, she would get rid of the position. I told her that if she didn’t want me there and didn’t think the position was necessary, I would prefer her to lay me off immediately, because I would be uncomfortable being there. She agreed. ****ALSO*** She said to think about it and let her know the next day the time frame I'd prefer.****

****
The next day I sent her from home the following e-mail:
I feel this is very unfortunate. I enjoyed and would have liked to continue working at (company name). The position I’ve held for the past six months, Manager of Design and Production, I found had a significant increase in work and responsibly compared to my previous Graphic Design position. Though I enjoyed the challenge, I was hoping that you could acknowledge this in some way (salary, benefits, vacation, etc.) I find it very disappointing that you couldn’t even acknowledge me verbally and weren’t even open to any type of discussion. I feel that my history of hard work, my job performance and our good working relationship at (company name) did not warrant this so called “Your not in the Game” layoff. I appreciate your letting me choose the time frame for which this is to tae place within the next month. Since you feel that I am “not in the Game” and don’t have an “entrepreneur attitude”, I think that I would be uncomfortable working in an environment where you feel my personality doesn’t fit in and my position is not needed. I am hurt that you feel this way. Please accept today (September 14) as the first day of my layoff.

To this e-mail she responded:
I wish you the best in all your future endeavors. I enjoyed working with
you and wish that you could have been happy here.

******

I applied for unemployment, but the HR department (as a personal favor) called me today and told me that my Manager said it wasn’t a layoff and was planning on contesting my benefits.

I’m frazzled. What just happened? Is this a layoff? Will I get benefits?

(Thanks for your time)

****Please see additonal info inserted above and below****

Now I received a call from HR today (as a personal favor and WARNING) saying that my manger (owner of the company's daughter) says that I have misunderstood – this would only be a layoff if I worked until the end of next month, wants me to understand they want me to come back and is planning a conference call to me for this afternoon.

Am I suppose to answer this? Am I suppose to go back? What about my unemployment insurance? HELP!

Well, actually, no, you were not laid off. That term is used incorrectly far too often. Technically, unless there is a reasonable chance that you will be recalled to work, you were not laid off. But no one likes the word fired, so they use laid off instead, even when it's not a layoff.

In my opinion, you were fired. But I also think the company can make a reasonable argument that you quit. So no one can say whether you'll get benefits or not; only an adjudicator from your state can say.

It's entirely up to you how you want to handle it from here. I'm not in your HR manager's mind; I don't know what they're thinking or planning.

I think that my manager was trying to force me out and frame me not to get unemployment. She never even notified HR about the fact I was going to be "layed off". HR didn't know about it until I called asking about Health Insurance, etc. I also had to ask my boss what our separation would be considered and she was not too happy I asked. Plus she told me that I could only stay till the end of next month if I wanted, because she had already outsourced the projects I had been working on and with the additonal cost of that she didn't think she could afford to have me longer.

I agree with you though. She fired me. Should I go back? Why would you want someone working in your office that you fired? Usually when you fire someone, you want them to leave right away.

Does it matter that I have a letter from her not "correcting" the "lay off"?

I have no idea whether you should go back or not. That's a decision only you can make. Nor can I comment on the letter since I don't know what it says.

But, a word of caution. I don't know precisely what you said when you asked for a raise, but if you said anything that compared your salary to someone else's, I'd have fired you too, and it wouldn't have been a layoff and you'd have been gone that day. I would probably not have contested your unemployment, but make no mistake about it, you'd have been out the door so fast your feet wouldn't have hit the floor. When asking for a raise, the worst thing you can possibly do is say that you should get a raise because so-and-so is making x amount more/less/than me.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that many times, an employee's compensation is going to compare unfavorably with that of someone else's. This can be due to any number of factors, including differing anniversary dates, one person being a better negotiator than another, changing market conditions, variable lengths of prior experience, difference in education, different skill sets, and even one employee being the nephew of the boss.

When an employee asks for a raise, the only professional way to do it is based on either their own value to the company, or to comparing outside market conditions. Examples: "After my work on the Johnson project...", or "According to a salary survey I found on the SHRM board..." Never, ever, ever because Joe is making x.

Anyway, I don't know if any of that applies, but just as a friendly tip.

She told me to descide the time frame of the layoff and let her know the next day.

I sent an e-mail so this could be documented somehow. This is the only written documentation of our conversations about the layoff:I feel this is very unfortunate. I enjoyed and would have liked to continue working at (company name). The position I’ve held for the past six months, Manager of Design and Production, I found had a significant increase in work and responsibly compared to my previous Graphic Design position. Though I enjoyed the challenge, I was hoping that you could acknowledge this in some way (salary, benefits, vacation, etc.) I find it very disappointing that you couldn’t even acknowledge me verbally and weren’t even open to any type of discussion. I feel that my history of hard work, my job performance and our good working relationship at (company name) did not warrant this so called “Your not in the Game” layoff. I appreciate your letting me choose the time frame for which this is to take place within the next month. Since you feel that I am “not in the Game” and don’t have an “entrepreneur attitude”, I think that I would be uncomfortable working in an environment where you feel my personality doesn’t fit in and my position is not needed. I am hurt that you feel this way. Please accept today (September 14) as the first day of my layoff.

To this e-mail she responded (with an e-mail. Please note she doesn’t correct the fact that I believe this to be a layoff):

I wish you the best in all your future endeavors. I enjoyed working with you and wish that you could have been happy here.

It is still my opinion that you were fired. I don't see that anything in the letter changes that.

I still think it's possible that the company can make the case that you resigned. I don't agree that you did, but I think they can make the argument.

I can't tell you what to do. It would be utterly irresponsible of me to do so. You will have to decide for yourself how to handle it. This is not really a legally issue; regardless of whether you resigned or were fired, no laws were violated.