my son and I were terminated from our jobs wednesday;

Normally I work in the morning shift, but I had requested to have the morning shift off.

I recieved a phonecall on my answering machine in the morning, our employer stated that the place I work had called him, and said I left notes the previous nite and they were of a threatning nature, and the customers obtained them some how and requested my Son and I be banned from the building. I shoud state, we work for a cleaning company which cleans buildings to avoid some confusion.

I did leave notes the previous nite, but one indicated another worker I had scheduled the day off, and I would not be in during the morning and to have a happy thanksgiving, the other was a letter to matinance indicating sinks were not draining, obviosly none of a threatning nature, or anything that would be questionable.

I have worked there for several years, and know everyone there very well, and thought the request was out of character, so I went to the place I work and had the person the owner had claimed had wanted me banned paged so I could talk to him in the entrance area.

When I spoke to the man, he didn't seem to know why my son and I were fired, only that we had been fired. I had stated the reason I was given, and he told me he would look into things, but he couldn't do anything else because it was at the request of our companies owner not him or the building we work at.

When I returned the phonecall to our employer, I asked what notes he was refering to, and he didn't answer me, he only said he will talk about it monday.


I have my theorys about what actually happened and why it happened, but is this considered wrongful termination?

I had spoken to a lawyer today, and was told wrongful termination only applies to workers who are contracted and are terminated before the said date had expired. I don't know if that is true or not, because I found out the other information I had received from the lawyer was wrong.

Fr_Chuck

In most states in the US, not all, you can be fired at any time for any reason, other that protected rights ( sex, religion, and so on)

I could go in tomorrow and fire every red headed person in my office, fair, no, right, no, but I could do it. Heck I could go in and just fire every other person.

Wrongful termination normally refers into courts, ( not what it was 30 years ago) but to where you filed an action against the company and they fired you as a result of getting back at you.

And unless you have a specific employment contract or you are part of a labor union, unless you can work something out with your employment agency there is little you can do.

One police department I worked for, the new cheif came in and about one month latter she filed about 5 or 6 people, to make room for people she wanted to work for her. No one had done anything wrong, but she just picked some that did not fit her mold and got rid of them.

So someone is lying, either the one person told your boss there were notes, or your boss is lying and wanted you gone to hire someone else for that spot.

And they don't have to show you notes, if they don't want to, as a matter of fact, he did not even have to tell you anything except you are fired.

Get him to put this in writing, since if you prove it is not true, then you have grounds for a law suit.

excon

Hello jethro:

Unless you were a member of a union or had an employment contract, you were employed "at will". That's a legal term meaning the employer can fire you for any reason other than discrimination.

excon

sjethro00

so, if If I'm getting this right; The owner could have fired me for any reason, but because he lied and if I can prove that he lied, I might have grounds for a lawsuit?

excon

Hello again, jethro:

Yup. He didn't have to lie to fire you. But, because he did, he damaged your reputation. That's actionable.... People can't lie about other people. They can fire 'em, but they can't lie about 'em.

excon

J_9

That is called slander, and while it is actionable, understand that suing an employer can damage your employment reputation even more.

Fr_Chuck

Yep, he could have just said you are fired, no reason, and pay the unemployment. he could have fired you for wearing a blue cap, but he can't lie to fire you.

I was ordered by my boss in MO once to fire 2 of the front desk people, because they were too "fat" he wanted only pretty people working at the front desk. I thought that was discrimination at the time

I did not fire them but transfered them to a stock room.
I got fired for not firing them. and then my replacement fired them

RichardBondMan

Lies are told every day, probably every hour and every minute, it can be a written lie and that is libel and if it's spoken that is slander. But how are you going to prove it especially since it appears it was not written? Then if you prove it was slander then what's it worth to you, ie how much have you lost? You would have to prove your loss to a court, might be a lot and then again, might not be much? The lawyer, what's he going to charge you to handle it, will he take the case? From what I understand, my best guess is that most lawyers would simply chalk it up to something like 'well thats life". Now if it's written down somewhere and you can get the proof, then that's perhaps a good reason to persue it - or if you find this really hurts you financially, emotionally, and reputation wise, then go for it, othewise, I would simply forget it, go about life without letting it bother you. i was once cleaning a stock broker's office in the winter and the office reported a fur coat missing, consequently the janitorial company owner asked me if I knew anything about it. Her even asking concerned me but heck she only asked. I knew I didnt take it, didnt call a lawyer, was not fired. I simply chuckled.

sjethro00

I'm actually going to pursue a lawyer so I can keep my unemployment insurance.

I've worked for the company for a long time, and know the owner always tries to stop former employee's from receiving unemployment insurance, so I have no choice to obtain a lawyer or atleast fight for my benefits, as some form of income is better then no income.

So, I'll see what they say about pursuing damages for slander; knowing how the company operates, I'm sure my records indicate I did many things wrong, and was falsely written-up (I know this for a fact the company falsely accuses workers of wrongful actions after they are fired to justify there termination), so my repuation has probably been severly damaged, and it might be worth pursuing.

Thank you for all the help

excon

Hello again, jethro:

Before you start giving away your hard earned money to a lawyer, I would wait to see how the first level of appeal works out. It's been my experience that the unemployment people are not looking for reasons to find for the employer. Their sympathies lie with the claimant.

If you lose at that level, then you should consider hiring a lawyer. But, I'll bet you win.

excon