Terminated!

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee
Hi,
I live in Nashville tn and have been working for a private university for about 5 months. I have just been terminated for "performance issues", which I find ridiculous. I have been a stay at home mom for almost 5 years before I came back to work, and I had worked before in the same field, Research Assistant.
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of picking the wrong boss and coworker. My coworker is Asian (speaks Mandarin fluently & pretends she doesn't understand American phrases), but understands completely what she is doing, undermined me and ratted me out of my job. She is the boss' pet, her daughter is doing an summer internship with the boss.
She blew everything out of proportion, blamed me for every complaint lodged against our lab, including careless biosafety issues and protocol issues that she and her boss wants to ignore and get away with. I am paying for her carelessness and my bucking the system. What can I do? Can I file some kind of grievance? Will that help me or further ruin me?

You are free to file whatever grievances may exist under internal policy. But what you describe, while unfair, does not provide you with any legal recourse.

You should immediately file for unemployment.

william11 said:

She blew everything out of proportion, blamed me for every complaint lodged against our lab, including careless biosafety issues and protocol issues that she and her boss wants to ignore and get away with. I am paying for her carelessness and [Bmy bucking the system.[/B]

Click to expand...

EVERY thing you said is not relevant to any case.

Please talk about what you mean by "everything"

and

my bucking the the system




Are you trying to invole some kind of whistle-blower status?

Because your being a stay at home mom is not relevant

And mentioning people's racial characteristics when it is not relevant makes you sound like a racist.

at the very least taking cheap shots.

Sadly enough, in this case I would strongly suspect you won't even be able to qualify for unemployment benefits. Because if you have only worked there five months, and apparently weren't working for a while before this, you probably do not have enough wages in the base period to set up a claim, and therefore, no chance to draw regardless of the circumstances under which you were let go. File a claim and see. It costs nothing to do so.

But most people do not realize that if they are not fired for an EEOC covered reason, they do not have any rights or protests or place to complain to when they are terminated. Tennessee is an at will state, which means they can basically fire you for about anything, including wearing green socks. Is it fair, no, but chalk it up to experience and walk away, find another job and move on. There's no system to buck, no bureau of fairness on the job to appeal to.