At what point are you fired?

[bobwill]

What is the name of your state? VA.

I work part time in a medical supply warehouse for a large hospital system as a supervisor and take call a few times a week. I keep my work provided cell phone on vibrate unless I'm at work or on call.

Early this morning (12/31/21) I was not on call and started getting phone calls from my manager around 1:30 am. At 2:10 am my wife's phone rang waking me up so I answered it. It was my manager screaming and cussing at me. I hug up the phone and took my wife's cell phone and my work phone into the other room. Once I read a few text messages saying I was fired I texted her back "thanks for the employment do not contact me again". I had voice messages, text messages, and emails form my manager telling me I was fired and a few light threats.

At 9:00 am I took screen shots of all my text messages, copied all the voicemails, and forwarded all the emails for the manager to my personals email. I then made a few copies of the information on CD. I went to the HR building and turn my uniforms, cell phone, and laptop. After a 20 minute talk with someone in HR and showing them everything they looked up what items I had singed out and we singed them all back in. We went over my PTO payout and a few other separation things.

After leaving HR I went to the courthouse and filed for a No-contact order for the manager and it was granted.

Around 2 pm HR called me telling me that I was not fired and it was all a misunderstanding. I told them I'm not able to come into work until I contact a lawyer, I do not feel safe in the same building as the manager, and there is No-contact order against my manager, and this is my to be my call in until father notice. I was scheduled to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

I have called a local employment lawyer and was told someone would call me back by 8 pm, but never happened.

Was I legally fired?

 

[cbg]

Nothing you have posted suggests that your termination was illegal. It's possible that HR has decided to override your manager, but that doesn't mean any laws or protected rights were violated.

Was it handled well? Not at all, and at the very least I imagine your (former) manager has a written warning in their file. It wouldn't surprise me at all if HE was the one who was fired.

But you have not won the lawsuit lottery.

 

[bobwill]

Thank you for the reply.

I do not want to sue anyone.

I want to know if I was fired due to the payout of 487 hours of PTO time I have accumulated. I no longer want to step foot on that property.

 

[quincy]

Not a great end to the year but ... 487 hours of PTO?

I guess you start 2022 with a search for new employment.

Remember that tonight is New Year’s Eve and tomorrow is New Year’s Day. You are unlikely to be able to get return calls or find anyone to assist you until Monday the 3rd.

 

[bobwill]

To get my PTO (paid time off) paid out I have to be fired or work out a 90 day notice. I have worked for the company for 18+ years.

I dropped back to three 10 hour days and 3 days of call a week to start a small business that's doing great.

 

[cbg]

IMO you were fired; however, whether or not HR plans to override the firing and bring you back to work is unknown. It seems probable. Refusing to come back will, again IMO, transform your firing into a quit. That will have a negative effect on both your PTO payout and on any unemployment claim, so you may want to consider that in your plans.

Your state does NOT require the payout of unused PTO at termination.

 

[quincy]

To get my PTO (paid time off) paid out I have to be fired or work out a 90 day notice. I have worked for the company for 18+ years.

I dropped back to three 10 hour days and 3 days of call a week to start a small business that's doing great.

Thanks for the additional information.

It is fortunate that you have a successful small business. The loss of your job should not be quite as disastrous financially for you.

Good luck.

 

[bobwill]

So my firing was receded.

How do I handle going into work in the morning after getting death threats form my manager? I'm not sure if law enforcement has served her the No-contact order?

 

[cbg]

When you told HR that you would not come in until you have consulted with an attorney, and about the no-contact order, what did they say?

I don't want to even guess at what your next move should be, without knowing that.

 

[bobwill]

HR made the aahhh sound and then OK then.

 

[cbg]

I don't know how big your HR is. Where I work now, there are hundreds of people in HR and we don't all know each other. On the other hand, I've worked places in the past where I was HR - there was no one else handling HR functions but me.

Do you know who you spoke with? If there was an issue and you were threatened with a no-call, no-show, would HR back you up when you said you'd called in and why?

 

[bobwill]

I think there are over 12k people in the system I work for. HR is set up a bit funky IMO.

Yes I know the name of the HR person I talked to on the phone today. Due to the time I bet they work from home.

I just called my department manager and told them "I'm not sure if I was fired or not, but will be taking off the next 3 days if I still have a job due to death threats". The department manager tried to talk, but I responded with "I'm not sure if I was fired or not, but will be taking off the next 3 days if I still have a job due to death threats".

I just want to say thanks and sorry for using they pronouns as it makes it harder to understand, but type like this due to the culture at work.

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state? VA.

I work part time in a medical supply warehouse for a large hospital system as a supervisor and take call a few times a week. I keep my work provided cell phone on vibrate unless I'm at work or on call.

Early this morning (12/31/21) I was not on call and started getting phone calls from my manager around 1:30 am. At 2:10 am my wife's phone rang waking me up so I answered it. It was my manager screaming and cussing at me. I hug up the phone and took my wife's cell phone and my work phone into the other room. Once I read a few text messages saying I was fired I texted her back "thanks for the employment do not contact me again". I had voice messages, text messages, and emails form my manager telling me I was fired and a few light threats.

At 9:00 am I took screen shots of all my text messages, copied all the voicemails, and forwarded all the emails for the manager to my personals email. I then made a few copies of the information on CD. I went to the HR building and turn my uniforms, cell phone, and laptop. After a 20 minute talk with someone in HR and showing them everything they looked up what items I had singed out and we singed them all back in. We went over my PTO payout and a few other separation things.

After leaving HR I went to the courthouse and filed for a No-contact order for the manager and it was granted.

Around 2 pm HR called me telling me that I was not fired and it was all a misunderstanding. I told them I'm not able to come into work until I contact a lawyer, I do not feel safe in the same building as the manager, and there is No-contact order against my manager, and this is my to be my call in until father notice. I was scheduled to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

I have called a local employment lawyer and was told someone would call me back by 8 pm, but never happened.

Was I legally fired?

You refer to the threats as "a few light threats" here in your opening post, but in later posts say that your life was threated. What exactly was said by this person?

 

[cbg]

I wish you had said, "Due to a personal situation" rather than "due to death threats" (the personal situation being that you haven't made contact with an attorney yet) but I guess that's water under the bridge now. I also wish you'd made the call to HR or to your manager's manager rather than the person you'd had the verbal altercation with. But what's done is done.

 

[bobwill]

I called in sick to the department head I went 2 mangers up the chain.

You will need to add a drunken redneck voice into reading these. They were on call and live 45 minutes form the warehouse.

"I'll kick your ass if you do not take care of this"
"Next time I see you, you will pay for this if I have to drive into town to take care of this"
"Your ass is mine bitch"
"I know where you live, you can not hide from me"
"If you do not take care of this call I'll take care of you next time I see you"
"Next time I see your pickup I'll slash your tires"
There was something about dog shit on my windshield, but not able to make this on out.
"Shit will hit the fan next time your admitted"
"I own a big farm and no one will find you"
"Life is to short to act like a dick, I'll will cut it off next time I see you, you do not deserve a dick"
"Don't make me use the 9 I keep under my seat"

There were a few more.