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Implied contract/ wrongful termination

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bret8kins

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

This case is about implied contracts and wrongful termination


On or about November 27 or 28 I was directly interviewed with the company I would be working for and was hired on through an IT Staffing Firm. I WAS TOLD BY THE VP THAT INTERVIEWED ME THAT IT TAKES 4-6 MONTHS TO BE HIRED ON DIRECTLY AS A PERMANENT EMPLOYEE. On Dec.9,2013 I started training for a company based in Minnesota through a staffing firm based in New Jersey. I was hired to manage a depot(TECHNICALLY I WAS CALLED A LEAD TECH)and after 1 week of training in Minnesota, came back to Virginia to start what I thought and hoped we be a long career with them and the last job I would ever have. The VP hired me and I explicitly stated to him these were my intentions. At the time I was hired it was told to me the they wanted to hire a total of 3 people. Myself and 2 people that I would manage. But after working at the depot for a few weeks he began to give EXCUSES as to why there hadn't been a third person yet. Something like we are looking but haven't found the right fit. On FEBRUARY 13,2014 he flew out here to hire the replacement (the only other employee) because he was a bad fit and not a good employee. I couldn't do the hiring because I wasn't a FT perm employee of the company yet. HE REFERRED TO ME AS THE SITE SUPERVISOR IN INTERVIEWS.WE HIRED AN INDIVIDUAL(WAS ADVISED HE WOULD BE HIRED AS FT PERM AFTER 30 DAYS BECAUSE THEY WERE HAVING ISSUES WITH STAFFING FIRM AND THOUGH IT WAS CHEAPER TO GO THIS ROUTE). AT THIS TIME THE VP THAT HIRED ME SPECIFICALLY STATED TO ME THAT I WAS DOING A GOOD JOB AND THAT IN MARCH I WOULD BE HIRED ON FULL TIME AND GETTING A RAISE OF $3/HR. WE HAD LONG TALKS AND HE SPECIFICALLY SAID TO ME THAT FOR OUR RELATIONSHIP TO WORK THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO HAVE OPEN COMMUNICATION. HE ALSO ADVISED ME AT THAT TIME THAT HE HAD THE 3RD CANDIDATE IN MIND. IT WAS A CURRENT EMPLOYEE THAT WAS LOOKING TO MOVE. (TURNS OUT THIS EMPLOYEE WAS ALSO OFFERED MY POSITION BEFORE I WAS HIRED BUT HAD TO DECLINE AT THE TIME) So on or about MARCH 3RD OR 4TH WE HAD A BAD ICE STORM IN THE AREA AND I MADE THE DECISION TO CLOSE THE DEPOT. I CALLED THE VP at 7 a.m. EST and 6 a.m.CST AND LEFT A VOICE MAIL ADVISING OF MY DECISION. THE VOICE MAIL SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT IF HE WANTED TO DISCUSS THIS OR IT WAS A PROBLEM TO LET ME KNOW. I didn't hear from him almost the whole day until he had a tech supervisor(not my supervisor) call me to tell me that the VP was mad and upset that we closed the depot. I explained to him that road conditions were terrible and that unlike in Minnesota we couldn't just clear off the roads but that specifically it wasn't the snow but the ice that had me close down. He said he understood and would explain it to him. THE NEXT DAY THE TECH SUPERVISOR CALLED TO SAY THAT THE VP WANTED ME TO KNOW THAT I WOULDN'T BE GETTING HIRED ON IN MARCH AS PROMISED NOR GETTING A RAISE BUT WOULD HAVE TO WAIT THE FULL 6 MONTHS UNTIL THE CONTRACT ENDED IN JUNE. I questioned him on this and he said that the staffing firm I was working for advised them that they wouldn't nor couldn't let my contract be bought and that they had to wait the full 6 months. The tech supervisor also advised that the VP SAID "IF THERE WERE ANY MORE ISSUES THAT THEY MAY HAVE TO LOOK AT MAKING A CHANGE AT THE MANAGER POSITION." I called and spoke to the staffing firm and they advised that the company I was hired to work for knew there was a predetermined amount they could pay to buy out the contract. I called back and spoke with tech supervisor and advised him that I spoke with staffing firm. He advised me that was all he knew and that if the VP had plans to make a change(firing me) that he was NOT aware of it and in fact the VP had said he wanted me to remain as the depot manager. I advised the tech supervisor that I didn't want to make waves or rock the boat because I liked my job and wanted to keep it. I told him that I would let sleeping dogs lie and revisit that subject in 1 month. At this time it was beginning to bother me that an employee that had barely been there 1 month was NOW a FT PERM EMPLOYEE AND THAT HE WAS accruing paid time off, vacation and sick time hours plus covered with medical insurance. At this time the VP advised me that the perm employee that he told me about was going to be moving to Virginia. His first day on the job was March 31,2014. It was implicitly told to both he and I to make sure that he was allowed to do all aspects of my job and that he learned how to use UPS World Ship. At that time I decided that we could really impress him by having a 3rd person and that our metrics and numbers would go up significantly and that I would wait 1 more month to improve my chances by showing him the hard work we were putting in. I came up with a time/cost saving measure for my branch that would save 45 min per day. IF instituted with 2 other branches it would have been a savings of over 2 hours .IF it instituted at the main branch( HQ) IT WOULD HAVE SAVED THEM 3 HOURS PER DAY EASILY BECAUSE OF THE AMOUNT OF INVENTORY AND BOXES THEY WOULD HANDLE PER DAY AND HAD TO SHIP/RECEIVE. ON May 9, I called the VP to ask about having the ability to order our own parts and some other things. He said he didn't have any problems with it. Also I BROACHED THE SUBJECT OF BEING HIRED ON FT TIME. I ADVISED I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS FAIR THAT I WAS SUPERVISING 2 EMPLOYEES THAT WERE FT PERM AND I WAS STILL TECHNICALLY A TEMP. I SUGGESTED THAT BECAUSE THEY SAVED MONEY BY NOT BUYING OUT THE CONTRACT THAT HE CONSIDER ROLLING BACK MY HIRE DATE TO SOMETHING LIKE MARCH WHEN HE TOLD ME I WOULD BE GETTING HIRED ON PERMANENTLY. THAT I DIDN'T CARE SO MUCH ABOUT A MONETARY RAISE BUT THAT BEING A PERM FT EMPLOYEE WITH BENEFITS MATTERED MORE. I VERY MUCH WANTED TO BE A FT PERM EMPLOYEE AND THAT I WANTED TO BE accruing paid time off, vacation and sick time hours plus covered with medical insurance. HE ADVISED ME THAT THEY HAD NEVER HIRED A CONTRACT/TEMP WORKER BEFORE LETTING THE CONTRACT RUN ITS COURSE. HE WOULD BE WILLING TO DISCUSS IN JUNE WHEN THE TIME CAME. THAT HE HADN'T EVEN BEGUN TO CONSIDER ANY OF THAT. I ASKED HIM SPECIFICALLY JUST TO BE FAIR WHEN THAT TIME CAME AND TO CONSIDER WHAT I HAD ASKED FOR. HE SAID TO ME HE THOUGHT IT WAS FAIR AND HE WOULD CONSIDER IT WHEN THE TIME CAME. ON May 13,2014 I discovered in a tech meeting that the VP an tech supervisor would be visiting our depot/site on May 22, 2014. On May 22, 2014 they came and sat with me and advised me that after looking at the numbers they wouldn't be able to honor my request. That further more there was too much money being spent on salaries and that he was going to have to let me go immediately. He said he tried to see if he could make it work so that I and the employee that moved from Minnesota would run it. He said it had to be a 3 person operation because of sick days and vacations. He said in fact that he had interviews set up for the next day to hire the 3rd person at a significantly reduced salary. At the end he asked me if I had any feedback. I said what do you want me to say? Your mind is made up. I asked him what level of salary would I need to be at. His response was at the 3rd guy level. I said I wished you would have told me this because perhaps we could have worked something, anything out. I was willing to have a reduced salary by up to $3-4/hr. Later, after reflecting I advised him of this in an email. The employee that moved from Minnesota(we became really good friends and hanging out away from work) even advised him of the cost saving measure I created. That he thought I would be willing to take a salary decrease and that even may he may be willing to do it too just to keep me on board. The VP stated to me in an email response and to him that he couldn't have 2 people capable of leading a depot with 2 significantly different salaries his mind was made up and that he laid out a course and wasn't changing it. THE COMPANY IS 2 MILLION DOLLARS AHEAD RIGHT NOW OF THEIR PROJECTED PROFITS FOR THE YEAR. So it cant be a cost saving thing. It has to be personal.I HAVE NEVER MISSED A DAY OF WORK FOR THEM. NOT FOR ANYTHING. NEVER CALLED OUT SICK. WAS NEVER WARNED I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG EVER AT ANY TIME. Simply put I think I have a case for wrongful termination. That at the very least I had and implied contract and he didn't honor it because he got pissed at me over me asking him about something he had promised me and held it against me until he got his guy from Minnesota here and trained. That they hired 2 people directly after hiring me as a temp. DO I HAVE ANY LEGAL RECOURSE FOR ANYTHING
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Not even going to try to read that. Go back in, add some white space and paragraphs so my eyes stop crossing, and I'll try again.

FYI, about 97% of the people who post here believing they have a wrongful termination claim are wrong. You might want to add specifically what law you believe was violated by your termination because if there wasn't one, it's not a wrongful term.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
They strung you along. There was never an Implied contract. If you notice, the possible terms of employment continually changed. Sounds like they had made up their mind right about the time of the ice storm.

It's odd that you didn't believe you were qualified to hire a person but had the authority to close this depot you speak of. I am curious: did you have any authority or control over the other employees hours? Did you have a right to write up and punish the other employees?
 

Proserpina

Senior Member
Not even going to try to read that. Go back in, add some white space and paragraphs so my eyes stop crossing, and I'll try again.

FYI, about 97% of the people who post here believing they have a wrongful termination claim are wrong. You might want to add specifically what law you believe was violated by your termination because if there wasn't one, it's not a wrongful term.

I see no illegal act or wrongful term, here.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Doesn't matter. All the capitalized stuff you've thrown in there, some of it MIGHT be of interest to the unemployment office as to the reason and nature of your termination, IF you happened to be an employee of the company. But since you were never the employee of the company, only an employee of the temp service, it will be mostly a case of their contract to work with their agency at this particular site was terminated at the request of the contractor. They are the only ones who had a contract of any kind with this employer. You did not. There is no contract, implied or otherwise, between yourself and the worksite employer. You were, I repeat, an employee of the temp service.

You do not have the slightest ghost of a possible grounds for a wrongful termination suit. You were hired by the temp service, and the site employer promised you the moon. Then he didn't follow through with it. You were never hired by the employer. Instead, they hired someone else and asked that your contract be ended. It certainly happens ALL the time.

You sound like you were seriously over-involved. Your personality may just have clashed with the employer's. You may have frightened them with your CAPITAL LETTER INTENSITY, and your inquiries and demands. But the truth of the matter is, nothing that happened was illegal, and you have no legal protection against the employer deciding not to hire you, even if he had said he was going to, swore he was going to on his mother's grave, even if you saved them millions and were much much better qualified that the person who did get the job ultimately. You got just what you were legally entitled to. You were paid for the time you worked, through the temporary service. You were not discriminated against solely because you were of a different race, religious affiliation, age, sex, etc. You were not asked to work in unsafe or illegal conditions. You can be fired at will. Your temporary assignment with the temp service can be terminated at any time by the employer. That's what happened. If they have no further work for you, you will probably be able to file for and be approved for unemployment insurance. That's the only legal right you have that I can see here.
 

commentator

Senior Member
Doesn't matter. All the capitalized stuff you've thrown in there, some of it MIGHT be of interest to the unemployment office as to the reason and nature of your termination, IF you happened to be an employee of the company. But since you were never the employee of the company, only an employee of the temp service, it will be mostly a case of their contract to work with their agency at this particular site was terminated at the request of the contractor. They are the only ones who had a contract of any kind with this employer. You did not. There is no contract, implied or otherwise, between yourself and the worksite employer. You were, I repeat, an employee of the temp service.

You do not have the slightest ghost of a possible grounds for a wrongful termination suit. You were hired by the temp service, and the site employer promised you the moon. Then he didn't follow through with it. You were never hired by the employer. Instead, they hired someone else and asked that your contract be ended. It certainly happens ALL the time.

You sound like you were seriously over-involved. Your personality may just have clashed with the employer's. You may have frightened them with your CAPITAL LETTER INTENSITY, and your inquiries and demands. But the truth of the matter is, nothing that happened was illegal, and you have no legal protection against the employer deciding not to hire you, even if he had said he was going to, swore he was going to on his mother's grave, even if you saved them millions and were much much better qualified that the person who did get the job ultimately. You got just what you were legally entitled to. You were paid for the time you worked, through the temporary service. You were not discriminated against solely because you were of a different race, religious affiliation, age, sex, etc. You were not asked to work in unsafe or illegal conditions. You can be fired at will. Your temporary assignment with the temp service can be terminated at any time by the employer. That's what happened. If they have no further work for you, you will probably be able to file for and be approved for unemployment insurance. That's the only legal right you have that I can see here.
I didn't see anywhere in the post that you were hired by the employer at any point. However, if you were, and you were an employee of the worksite employer, you still have no legal recourse against being terminated at will in this situation.
 

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