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Demotion and cancled health insurance

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Mekito

New member
This is for my husband, but I'm writing as English is his second language and writing is difficult.

We live in Georgia, and let me preface by stating I understand that Georgia is a "right to hire/fire" state. It's not the demotion that upsets me it is everything leading up to it.

In October he got hired by a franchisee who owns a few fast food stores in our area.
He was hired as a manager/shift leader. During training he was transfered to another store and told he would be the assistant GM. He was given a paper to prove income for us to rent a house in the area of the new store.
The GM is the shadiest person I have ever met and I'm not sure the district manager is any better. The GM has attempted to write him up and he has fought each one, only one stayed on his record.
On the day of his end of training evaluation he came in on a day off and the GM refused to do it and said he needed to go to the bank. At the time my husband was in between renewing licenses and I was driving him. I drove up an hour after that to pick him up and he had to wait for another manager to come to the store to leave on his day off. We ran to the bank (the only one in town) and say the GM just pulling up for his deposit errand he claimed he went on an hour before.
He was told so many things that his job required him to do based on "contract" but he never signed anything other than hiring paperwork. He asked for a copy of this supposed contract and they refused. He asked for a copy of his employee handbook and they refused.
He was scheduled over 40 hours a week. They (both GM and district) claimed that he was contracted as an excempt salary employee and he would not be getting overtime. He had no way to clock in or out to prove his hours on paper. He has no access to his paystubs because it is online and they "are having problems with his login info".
He started to log his hours on his own on a phone app and showed it to the owner, as well as the new law from 2016 that he would only be exempt if he made $40k+ (he does not).
Owner chewed out district, who chewed out gm, who chewed out my husband. District brought in a new manager and cut his hours.
He signed up for health insurence benefits only offered to his position. His paycheck deposit reflected a deduction but again no pays tubs. And no health insurence card delievered.

TL;DR
He was demoted last week and moved to a new store, they claimed his sales weren't good enough. His new position is hourly and he won't be scheduled enough to afford rent. They cut his health insurence and won't offer anymore because he "hasn't been there 6 months". Still no paperwork has been given as requested.

My main question: who can we report this to for a third party to evaluate if they are acting legally? Like a health department inspection but for employers. I know where we went wrong and the job isn't worth keeping. We're cutting our loses but there are some good people still in that store that are getting screwed.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
This is for my husband, but I'm writing as English is his second language and writing is difficult.

We live in Georgia, and let me preface by stating I understand that Georgia is a "right to hire/fire" state. It's not the demotion that upsets me it is everything leading up to it.

In October he got hired by a franchisee who owns a few fast food stores in our area.
He was hired as a manager/shift leader. During training he was transfered to another store and told he would be the assistant GM. He was given a paper to prove income for us to rent a house in the area of the new store.
The GM is the shadiest person I have ever met and I'm not sure the district manager is any better. The GM has attempted to write him up and he has fought each one, only one stayed on his record.
On the day of his end of training evaluation he came in on a day off and the GM refused to do it and said he needed to go to the bank. At the time my husband was in between renewing licenses and I was driving him. I drove up an hour after that to pick him up and he had to wait for another manager to come to the store to leave on his day off. We ran to the bank (the only one in town) and say the GM just pulling up for his deposit errand he claimed he went on an hour before.
He was told so many things that his job required him to do based on "contract" but he never signed anything other than hiring paperwork. He asked for a copy of this supposed contract and they refused. He asked for a copy of his employee handbook and they refused.
He was scheduled over 40 hours a week. They (both GM and district) claimed that he was contracted as an excempt salary employee and he would not be getting overtime. He had no way to clock in or out to prove his hours on paper. He has no access to his paystubs because it is online and they "are having problems with his login info".
He started to log his hours on his own on a phone app and showed it to the owner, as well as the new law from 2016 that he would only be exempt if he made $40k+ (he does not).
Owner chewed out district, who chewed out gm, who chewed out my husband. District brought in a new manager and cut his hours.
He signed up for health insurence benefits only offered to his position. His paycheck deposit reflected a deduction but again no pays tubs. And no health insurence card delievered.

TL;DR
He was demoted last week and moved to a new store, they claimed his sales weren't good enough. His new position is hourly and he won't be scheduled enough to afford rent. They cut his health insurence and won't offer anymore because he "hasn't been there 6 months". Still no paperwork has been given as requested.

My main question: who can we report this to for a third party to evaluate if they are acting legally? Like a health department inspection but for employers. I know where we went wrong and the job isn't worth keeping. We're cutting our loses but there are some good people still in that store that are getting screwed.
The Department of Labor would be the agency to contact.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
The GM has attempted to write him up and he has fought each one, only one stayed on his record. There are no laws directly related to write-ups. Other than a situation that would violate Title VII and related laws, he can be written up because the day of the week ends in Y and it would be legal.

On the day of his end of training evaluation he came in on a day off and the GM refused to do it and said he needed to go to the bank. At the time my husband was in between renewing licenses and I was driving him. I drove up an hour after that to pick him up and he had to wait for another manager to come to the store to leave on his day off. We ran to the bank (the only one in town) and say the GM just pulling up for his deposit errand he claimed he went on an hour before. This was very poorly handled but it does not violate any laws.

He was told so many things that his job required him to do based on "contract" but he never signed anything other than hiring paperwork.
It's quite unlikely that he had an actual contract even if he had signed it. However, it would be better for your husband if he did have one. In the absence of a contract that expressly says, "Your job duties are x, y and z and nothing but x, y, and z" his job duties are whatever his boss says they are, and the boss can change them three times a day if he wants to.

He asked for a copy of this supposed contract and they refused. Legal in Georgia (and a frightening number of other states as well)

He asked for a copy of his employee handbook and they refused. Legal in every state. Stupid and pointless, but nowhere in the US does the law even require that there BE an employee handbook, let alone that it be given to employees. Go figure - I think it's as ridiculous as you do, but it is what it is.

He was scheduled over 40 hours a week. Legal. In 48 out of 50 states, including GA, you can be scheduled for as many hours as the employer wants you to work, and even in the two states where there are limits, the limit is very, very high.

They (both GM and district) claimed that he was contracted as an excempt salary employee and he would not be getting overtime.
If he is earning under the floor for exempt employees this is illegal and normally I would refer you to the state DOL. However, the GA state DOL has been described as a PO box where no one ever picks up the mail, and since the GA state minimum wage is lower than Federal he probably doesn't want to do that anyway. He could file with the US DOL, where he would be entitled to Federal minimum wage plus any overtime. He might conceivably want to discuss this whole situation with an employment attorney in GA and see what he says would be your best option.

He had no way to clock in or out to prove his hours on paper. While not technically illegal per se, his employer is required to be keeping SOME accurate record of his hours (though if they're trying to claim he's exempt, they probably aren't). However, in a wage claim, he doesn't have to prove what hours he worked; they have to prove he didn't work the hours he says he did.

He has no access to his paystubs This would be illegal in many states but unfortunately not in GA. In GA it's not mandatory that an employer provide paystubs.

Owner chewed out district, who chewed out gm, who chewed out my husband. District brought in a new manager and cut his hours. With the same qualifier as in the first paragraph above, legal.

He signed up for health insurence benefits only offered to his position. His paycheck deposit reflected a deduction but again no pays tubs. And no health insurence card delievered. The lack of pay stubs is not the issue here (see above) and even the lack of an insurance card is not, technically illegal - there could be a dozen reasons for that and still have it be legal. However, IF the deductions were taken and he was not actually enrolled in insurance, that is very illegal. The Employee Benefits Security Administration, which is an area of the DOL, is the regulatory agency for ERISA violations, which is what this would fall under.

He was demoted last week and moved to a new store, they claimed his sales weren't good enough. Legal

His new position is hourly and he won't be scheduled enough to afford rent. Legal

They cut his health insurence and won't offer anymore because he "hasn't been there 6 months". This is potentially very complicated. Outside of the waiting period, which I believe exceeds the maximum permitted by law, I can think of reasons this might be legal and reasons why it might not. If you're going to be talking to the EBSA, I'd include this as well. I believe that HHS has joint regulatory authority with the DOL on ACA issues.

But you have so many things here with so many possible regulatory agencies involved (if English is not his first language, we can't even rule out a good old fashioned discrimination claim, falling under the EEOC) that I truly think your best bet is to contact a lawyer.





 

Mekito

New member
I believe that this OP posted previously (although not in this much detail) in a now-deleted thread. Here is the link I gave before:

http://consumer.georgia.gov/consumer-topics/employment-disputes
I had. I posted this first and it wasn't in my "account" so I thought I had accidentally deleted it (my phone is wonky). Thus I posted again, shorter, because I didn't want to write it all again.
When I found the thread was still active I deleted the short one. Sorry for the confusion and thank you for the help.
 

Mekito

New member
The GM has attempted to write him up and he has fought each one, only one stayed on his record. There are no laws directly related to write-ups. Other than a situation that would violate Title VII and related laws, he can be written up because the day of the week ends in Y and it would be legal.

On the day of his end of training evaluation he came in on a day off and the GM refused to do it and said he needed to go to the bank. At the time my husband was in between renewing licenses and I was driving him. I drove up an hour after that to pick him up and he had to wait for another manager to come to the store to leave on his day off. We ran to the bank (the only one in town) and say the GM just pulling up for his deposit errand he claimed he went on an hour before. This was very poorly handled but it does not violate any laws.

He was told so many things that his job required him to do based on "contract" but he never signed anything other than hiring paperwork. It's quite unlikely that he had an actual contract even if he had signed it. However, it would be better for your husband if he did have one. In the absence of a contract that expressly says, "Your job duties are x, y and z and nothing but x, y, and z" his job duties are whatever his boss says they are, and the boss can change them three times a day if he wants to.

He asked for a copy of this supposed contract and they refused. Legal in Georgia (and a frightening number of other states as well)

He asked for a copy of his employee handbook and they refused. Legal in every state. Stupid and pointless, but nowhere in the US does the law even require that there BE an employee handbook, let alone that it be given to employees. Go figure - I think it's as ridiculous as you do, but it is what it is.

He was scheduled over 40 hours a week. Legal. In 48 out of 50 states, including GA, you can be scheduled for as many hours as the employer wants you to work, and even in the two states where there are limits, the limit is very, very high.

They (both GM and district) claimed that he was contracted as an excempt salary employee and he would not be getting overtime. If he is earning under the floor for exempt employees this is illegal and normally I would refer you to the state DOL. However, the GA state DOL has been described as a PO box where no one ever picks up the mail, and since the GA state minimum wage is lower than Federal he probably doesn't want to do that anyway. He could file with the US DOL, where he would be entitled to Federal minimum wage plus any overtime. He might conceivably want to discuss this whole situation with an employment attorney in GA and see what he says would be your best option.

He had no way to clock in or out to prove his hours on paper. While not technically illegal per se, his employer is required to be keeping SOME accurate record of his hours (though if they're trying to claim he's exempt, they probably aren't). However, in a wage claim, he doesn't have to prove what hours he worked; they have to prove he didn't work the hours he says he did.

He has no access to his paystubs This would be illegal in many states but unfortunately not in GA. In GA it's not mandatory that an employer provide paystubs.

Owner chewed out district, who chewed out gm, who chewed out my husband. District brought in a new manager and cut his hours. With the same qualifier as in the first paragraph above, legal.

He signed up for health insurence benefits only offered to his position. His paycheck deposit reflected a deduction but again no pays tubs. And no health insurence card delievered. The lack of pay stubs is not the issue here (see above) and even the lack of an insurance card is not, technically illegal - there could be a dozen reasons for that and still have it be legal. However, IF the deductions were taken and he was not actually enrolled in insurance, that is very illegal. The Employee Benefits Security Administration, which is an area of the DOL, is the regulatory agency for ERISA violations, which is what this would fall under.

He was demoted last week and moved to a new store, they claimed his sales weren't good enough. Legal

His new position is hourly and he won't be scheduled enough to afford rent. Legal

They cut his health insurence and won't offer anymore because he "hasn't been there 6 months". This is potentially very complicated. Outside of the waiting period, which I believe exceeds the maximum permitted by law, I can think of reasons this might be legal and reasons why it might not. If you're going to be talking to the EBSA, I'd include this as well. I believe that HHS has joint regulatory authority with the DOL on ACA issues.

But you have so many things here with so many possible regulatory agencies involved (if English is not his first language, we can't even rule out a good old fashioned discrimination claim, falling under the EEOC) that I truly think your best bet is to contact a lawyer.
Thank you for the advice. I actually did not know the paystub thing was legal in Georgia. I had my suspicions about everything else.
He only logged his hours for one week so I'm not sure it's worth fighting for overtime backpay. And his GM is also not English (I think he's Greek?) so discrimination would not be the path we would choose. That actually never came to mind during all this.

I believe my husband just wants to report the whole thing to the department of labor and wash his hands of the company. Thanks for the reply.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
As I said, it's not your husband's responsibility to prove what overtime hours he worked;. if he files a wage claim, it's up to the employer to prove he didn't work the hours your husband says he did. If they can't prove it, your husband wins.

If he is determined to just make one report and then nothing more, tell him to make it the US DOL, not the GA state DOL. I really think he should talk to a lawyer first (many will give free or low cost consultations) but it's his choice.
 

Mekito

New member
As I said, it's not your husband's responsibility to prove what overtime hours he worked;. if he files a wage claim, it's up to the employer to prove he didn't work the hours your husband says he did. If they can't prove it, your husband wins.

If he is determined to just make one report and then nothing more, tell him to make it the US DOL, not the GA state DOL. I really think he should talk to a lawyer first (many will give free or low cost consultations) but it's his choice.
Well he isn't sure when he worked, it was usually 1st or 2nd shift but no standard time/day. He thought he was exempt because they told him he was. Old law, yeah he would because he was over the old thresh hold. I did the foot work and looked up some newer laws for overtime and found the updated law, which is what he used to go to the boss with.
He has some pictures of his schedules, I'll see what we can dig up. But without access to paystubs I don't know if he was paid the overtime or not (or if they will claim it). Would overtime show on a W-2?
We'll probably decide on legal action if we think it's a substantial amount. The primary concern now is finding a job that will pay the rent.
Thanks again for the advice. I'll start doing some research into local agents and see what we can find.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
His W-2 will show overall wages but it won't break it down as how much was regular and how much was OT.
 

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