Time theft as a salaried employee

[Saiyaman]

I was a store manager at a retail chain store. I was confronted by my district manager about leaving the store early while still being clocked in. Now I have on a few occasions left the store without remembering to clock out. As a salaried manager we are instructed that we have to work 45 hours a week but we get paid the same whether we work less than that amount of time or more, whether we work 40 hours or 55.

Now it's pretty common practice within the district that managers leave their shifts fairly regularly or "disappear" for 2 or 3 hours without being accounted for, the district manager him self has stayed clocked into mine and various other stores for the entire day even though he would leave after only a couple of hours of a visit. Now district managers are required to stay at a store they are visiting for the entirety of the day or about 7 to 8 hours, my district manager never did this so I believe if I am accused of stealing time then by the same logic he was stealing time. All I did was what I saw when I was hired, I followed the example of my superiors. I'm not by any means trying to sound like a victim but how can i be threatened to be fired and forced to resign by my direct supervisor for something he has done on many occasions himself? As well is the other store managers in the district which he happens to be friends with.

There are also many other polices that are violated by his friends who are managers that they are not fired for, one manager has been on final warning for having poor audits for YEARS, this manager as per the company guidelines should be been fired multiple times for the same infraction and this manager also "steals time".

My district manager himself has done things and said things in front of employees that should get him fired as well, like drinking alcohol on company time with minors present and unplugging the camera's afterward.

From reading other threads on here it seems that the actions of my direct supervisors will not be justification for my situation but I wanted to get some advice from the experts for my specific situation. Can an employee be forced to resign for something their direct supervisor has done right in front of them multiple times?

I have been told to file for unemployment even though I am pretty sure that it will be denied but everyone says just apply for it anyway and see what happens, in your legal opinion do you think I will be rejected for benefits? Should I seek legal council for my situation or just take it as a life experience and learn from it?

Thank you for your time and advice.

 

[Patricia_Young]

What other employees do or don't do does not relieve you of the responsibility of working the hours to which you agreed and clocking in/out as the work rules require.

Nobody "forced" you to resign unless there was a gun being held to your head. Having said that, though, most states consider a "resign or be fired" as a firing. We have no idea whether you will be denied or not. File and expect the employer to protest. There will then be a hearing, most likely on the phone, where both parties are available to answer questions from the hearing officer.

 

[Saiyaman]

Thats pretty much what I figured, so there can't be any accusation filed against the manager who gave me the ultimatum for him doing the very same thing that cost me my job as kind of a lead by example situation. Their definatly seems to be favourtism at the job, shouldn't all employees be treated and punished exactly the same way? The manager actually told one of my employees that I was considerd an outsider for not hanging out with them whenever they went out for drinks and such. I can't help but feel that my status as the black sheep in my district played heavily into my termination.

 

[Patricia_Young]

That very well may be, but being the "black sheep" is not an illegal reason to fire you either.