Forced to resign

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

I was told I could resign or get fired while under an adminstrative investigation, the offense for which I was accused I had already been written up for and given a verbal counseling on previously, is it legal for them to discipline me twice for the same offense. This has happened to me twice with the same company for which I worked, I had also previously been written up for an offense, then two months later put under an administrative investigation for the offense.

Yes, employers may discipline their employees as many times as they wish for a single offense.

If your final choice is resign or be fired, I reco you let yourself be fired - your chances of getting UI are better.

(Depending, of course, on the egregiousness of what you did. What did you do?)

I was accused of talking about the department, and if I had allowed them to fire me I would have lost my license, but now I cant get a job anywhere even at walmart or the local gas station, I took the advise of several lawyers even though I could afford to hire one at the time or even now, but feel that I was unjustly accused, what it really boiled down to was that I pissed off the big boss and he wanted me out of the department.

Not nearly enough information - here's what else we need:

1. What were you accused of saying about the department?
2. Did you actually say it?
3. If you have already lost your job some time ago, why do you care now how many times your former employer disciplined you?
4. When were you fired?
5. What license are you talking about and why would you lose it if you resigned?
6. Why can't you get a job anywhere now?

I was accused of downing my department saying it wasnt a good place to work for it and more or less not being happy with my job.

No i did not say any of the things i was accused of.

I care because my entire career is now fried. I have applied with over 75 different companys from chicken express to the local gas station and other departments and either get so we already filled the position, never get a call back, or we are no longer looking at this time for that position.

I am a licensed peace officer for the state of texas and if you get fired for code of conduct charges or more less anything else you get your license taken from you.

I loved my job and until about a two weeks before these charges I loved the department I worked for. I feel that because someone got pissed at me in the polictal office chain they ruined my career for me. I was never placed on administrative leave and from the day i recieved notice of the investigation until the day i got the call notifieying me that I had a choice was only 3 to 4 days. Awful quick to make a investigation and a decision if you ask me I just want to know what my legal stand point is am I screwed from ever working again anywhere or what?

OK.

As I said before, it's not illegal to discipline an employee a kazillion times for the same offense. You have no legal recourse for this.

If you're saying that your former employer is somehow preventing you from getting another job, I don't think so. Prospective employers seldom if ever call former employers until they're ready to offer a job to a candidate they've interviewed in person at least once. No interview generally means no reference check has been done.

There are no laws dictating how long an employer's investigation must be. I've personally conducted many many investigations and most of them have taken less than four days.

What I don't understand is that you say you were forced to resign, and then you say you were fired. Which is it?

I was told if i did not resign i would be fired, and on the advise of several lawyers i was told in order to keep my license that it would be best for me to resign.

It is considered a forced resignation

In the law enforcement field, if you pass the written exam, and then the physical agillity test, then your back ground is done, it can take as long as 6 months to do a proper back ground, all previous agencies are contacted and the chief is spoken with about the officer, The chief is the one that I pissed off along with his favorite, I know the true reason I was fired and it boils down to office politics, I am a certified back ground investigator myself, so I know how the process is done, with everyone I have applied with I pass the muster until my background is done, I have no disciplinary acts on my file until the last two where they tried to find some way to fire me, I work for them 2 1/2 yrs, with nothing but praises.

I have read "forced resignation" unemployment decisions where the employee was not disqualified for benefits if it was abundantly clear there would be overwhelming negative consequences if they did not resign but I can't cite them off-hand. You may have a shot at unemployment if you can prove you had to choose between resigning and keeping your license vs. being fired and losing it and you need your license to find new employment.

Now of course if whatever you did constitutes misconduct then forget what I just said because you will be disqualified.

Your termination was perfectly legal. Had it not been so, all those attorneys would have told you that at the time.

You didn't single out law enforcement employers when you talked about not being able to get a job anywhere, you said all employers were refusing to hire you because of this. I said that can't possibly be true, and I stand by that.

It looks like it's time to either look for a new career, or move to a different state if you want to continue in law enforcement.

Did you apply for UI when you were let go? If not, why not.