job abandonment?

[kittykat8207]

I had a baby on March 18, 2010 & was on maternity leave til May 13 (8 weeks for a c-section) & was due back to work June 28 after taking the extra 6 weeks for paid family leave. The week before I was to go back I had personal family problems which I needed to take an additional 3 weeks before I could return to work. I tried to go back on July 19, told them my situation & was told I would be contacted when I could go back. I waited a week with no response & went back the next week on July 27. I was told by the manager from the owner that I was going to "legally need a doctor's note to excuse me" for the extra time I took & they didn't have to hold my job if I didn't get a note. I kept telling the manager how am I supposed to get a doctor's note when I wasn't out for medical reasons? & she said the owner said legally I need a doctor's note for me to come back. My prenatal doctor had released me back to work on May 14, my insurance coverage through my mom's work ended July 1 & I have a new doctor through medi-cal who I have never seen, there was no way I was going to get a doctor to excuse my absence if I wasn't even sick for that time. I called the manager on July 30 to inform them it was not going to be possible for me to get a note & she said she would call me back. She finally called me back the next week on August 4 to tell me that legally I needed that note & I told them I couldn't get it, so pretty much they said I couldn't go back & we exchanged goodbyes. I filed for unemployment that same morning & started looking for a new job. Then on August 9 & 11 I got phone calls from my old manager wanting to arrange a meeting with the owner. I never responded & on August 14 I received a letter stating that if I "didn't respond back to the manager within 72 hours that my position would be considered abandoned" at the pharmacy.
How can I abandon a position that they already let me go from? & if I couldn't get a doctor's note like they said then legally how could I return to work? Me & my family feel like this is harassment & this letter is a threat that if i don't come back to work that they are going to say I abandoned my job which is going to stop me from getting unemployment. My family feels I should file a suit in small claims court for the threat & harassment & to pay me back for all the time they had me waiting for a response from them to see if I could go back to work. I am already a month behind on bills & have been borrowing from family & friends to make my car & credit card payments. If they were going to let me come back to work I don't feel they should have waited a month, let me go, then threaten me to go back. Do you think I have a good reason to take them to the small claims court & would be able to win?

sorry this is long i tried to just put only the facts but it's a big long mess i'm going through.

 

[army judge]

I had a baby on March 18, 2010 & was on maternity leave til May 13 (8 weeks for a c-section) & was due back to work June 28 after taking the extra 6 weeks for paid family leave. The week before I was to go back I had personal family problems which I needed to take an additional 3 weeks before I could return to work. I tried to go back on July 19, told them my situation & was told I would be contacted when I could go back. I waited a week with no response & went back the next week on July 27. I was told by the manager from the owner that I was going to "legally need a doctor's note to excuse me" for the extra time I took & they didn't have to hold my job if I didn't get a note. I kept telling the manager how am I supposed to get a doctor's note when I wasn't out for medical reasons? & she said the owner said legally I need a doctor's note for me to come back. My prenatal doctor had released me back to work on May 14, my insurance coverage through my mom's work ended July 1 & I have a new doctor through medi-cal who I have never seen, there was no way I was going to get a doctor to excuse my absence if I wasn't even sick for that time. I called the manager on July 30 to inform them it was not going to be possible for me to get a note & she said she would call me back. She finally called me back the next week on August 4 to tell me that legally I needed that note & I told them I couldn't get it, so pretty much they said I couldn't go back & we exchanged goodbyes. I filed for unemployment that same morning & started looking for a new job. Then on August 9 & 11 I got phone calls from my old manager wanting to arrange a meeting with the owner. I never responded & on August 14 I received a letter stating that if I "didn't respond back to the manager within 72 hours that my position would be considered abandoned" at the pharmacy.
How can I abandon a position that they already let me go from? & if I couldn't get a doctor's note like they said then legally how could I return to work? Me & my family feel like this is harassment & this letter is a threat that if i don't come back to work that they are going to say I abandoned my job which is going to stop me from getting unemployment. My family feels I should file a suit in small claims court for the threat & harassment & to pay me back for all the time they had me waiting for a response from them to see if I could go back to work. I am already a month behind on bills & have been borrowing from family & friends to make my car & credit card payments. If they were going to let me come back to work I don't feel they should have waited a month, let me go, then threaten me to go back. Do you think I have a good reason to take them to the small claims court & would be able to win?

sorry this is long i tried to just put only the facts but it's a big long mess i'm going through.

You made many mistakes in your handling of this situation.
Your biggest one was not making time to meet with the owner in early August.
I suppose the owner knew that she (or her management) had said some inappropriate things.
I suspect she was going to offer you your job.

You have no basis for bringing a case in small claims.
Small claims courts don't have the power of specific performance, anyway.
All a small claims court can do is assess monetary damages.
You have none that you can substantiate.
Yeah, you and others feel you do, but you don't.
You are free to try, however.
Anyone can sue anyone for anything.
Don't be surprised when you don't win!

If I were you, I'd make an appointment to apologize to the owner.
I'd try and clear the air, and claim that the confusion was based on short telephone talks and emails.
I'd apologize and ask for my job back.
You might not want to do that, but sometimes we have to eat humble pie.
At least you won't have them getting in the way of your unemployment, if you leave with good will on both sides.
I've got a feeling that a heartfelt apology will get you your job back.
You can still keep looking, and then resign with class.
Sometimes, you've just got to be the bigger person and take the hit.
The hit you'll take is for your new baby!
God bless.