Managers Writing Notes Im Forced to Sign.

[SylvesterClan]

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


I work for a franchise of a large corporation. We live in a very small town but its used as a stop point for travelers. Im a regular hourly employee. We have 20 employees in our company. I was notified that with some changes in the company (hourly employees and cutbacks in hours) that some of the employees were to sign a contract agreement written by the manager (not lawyer etc). That we will NOT sign up for benefits (like partial unemployment, other forms of income due to loss of work).

The issue at point is they stated our hours would be kept while changes were going on and yet most of us dropped to 60% or less of what we WERE working and hours never came back. Myself included in this I filed for partial unemployment cause I went from 38 hours to mid 20s each week. After filing partial unemployment I got called to the office and the boss chewed me out for filing. He said if I wanted more hours (maybe 5 hours more) ill have to do jobs that that are out of my boundaries and I will now have to sign a form stating "I will not file for partial unemployment, unemployment and other insurance etc. while hours are there" Im ok with doing the extra work.

However what happens when my hours are cut again when the extra work is not there. So what am I now to do about this form? Hes expecting me to sign it now (I also know hell use it against my partial unemployement case for denial.)

The owner of the franchise is not part of running it (i know who the owner is but not personally as he lives out of town). The manager who is doing these forms is basically the "say all". If we call the corporation they say its a franchise thing. Ive been looking for a job elsewhere with no luck.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Free_Advice]

Ha, thats funny. You can sign it and still put in for unemployment .. they can do nothing to you.

Co. does not have to offer benefits but if they do can they force you not to take them? Odd position for the company to take (and yes, the co. is taking this view according to you via their manager). What to do with this? I don't know.

 

[The Occultist]

The law, in some areas, tends to be quite clear in that it will not allow you to give up your rights (even completely voluntarily); one example is that you are not allowed to work "off the clock" even if you really, really, really wanna.

The company can have you sign all the contracts they want, but it's likely that many of them, especially in regards to the situation you describe, cannot actually be enforced.

 

[swalsh411]

The unemployment examiner is not going to care at all about some agreement you signed that says you will not file. In fact, they will probably be offended by the very notion of such an agreement.

 

[commentator]

This person is an idiot. Sign anything he asks you to sign, cheerfully and happily, then file for partial unemployment insurance when you have reduced hours. If you're worried he will fire you for doing this, you may even want to call the U.I. fraud division and tell them that your employer, XYZ, is trying to force you to sign contracts saying you will not sign up for unemployment insurance and threatening to fire you if you do so.

If he then "bawls you out for signing up" tell him to sue you. If he fires you, you'll be fully eligible for unemployment, and he'll be in trouble. Doubt if he'll be in there protesting your breach of contract to the unemployment system and stating he has a valid misconduct reason to fire you.

Your name will not be used, they will not tell the employer who turned them in, but you can bet your life they'll investigate the situation. They won't get back with you and tell you what happened due to the investigation, either, but you can bet there will be some repercussions. Fines probably, or a penalty tax rate increase.

Every employer is supposed to have posters on display informing the employees that they have the right to minimum wage, overtime pay, and to unemployment benefits if their hours are reduced through no fault of their own. To try to prohibit employees from signing up on unemployment insurance is like trying to get them to take less than minimum wage. It's a federal law that's being violated by a person who does not understand it.

 

[Beth3]

Ditto. The boss is indeed an idiot.

Your employer cannot enter into a valid agreement with you to waive any benefits to what you are legally entitled. So sign away with a smile on your face and if your hours are cut again, apply for unemployment benefits. If the boss sends a copy of that agreement to the UC Division as the basis to contest your eligibility, they'll have a good laugh.