Trying to get forced to quit and slander

[cmsua]

Due to the recession my place of employments is trying to cut costs in every way possible. Lately I have been treated differently at work, I heard from a co-worker who overheard a conversation from the management that they are trying to have me quit since I am the highest paid employee there so they don't have to pay me unemployment benefits. They didn't pay my vacation, they dropped my pay by $4/hr and cut my hours to part-time. Now one of the work vans have been stolen and they asked me if I had it before they reported it stolen and they mentioned to my co-workers that they think I did it. So now they are implying that I am stealing. Is there a way for me to take action because of all this? And I really want to quit, will I be able to receive unemployment if I do? And if I do quit, how should I do it?

 

[de_novo]

Quitting in a situation like this is kinda tricky. In order to do so and to collect unemployment benefits, you have the burden of proving that you had a necessitous and compelling reason to quit your employment. From what you have said, hearsay about you stealing a van and what you have overheard is not just cause for this. However, since your employer has reduced your hours and your pay from what you have originally been hired on for, you can contend that the quit was within ordinary common sense and prudence under the pressure of circumstances that were real, not imaginary, substantial not trifling, and reasonable not whimsical, and which would compel a reasonable person under the same circumstances to act in the same manner. Additionally, they have unilaterally changed the employee-employer relationship. While I am not a lawyer and this is not true legal advice, I would check with one before you decide to quit.

 

[Duranie]

something similar happened to my father. He was being pressured into quitting and being treated really bad. The owner of the company did not want him around so the goal was to force my dad to quit so they would not have to pay UE. He did not quit and they wound up firing him but called it a layoff so he would receive UE. You should talk to an employment law attorney for guidance.

 

[de_novo]

Duranie has a good point. Most places these days do not like to fire people if they don't have good cause due to knowing that they will lose in an unemployment battle. To fire someone in a situation like that, the employer must prove that some type of rule violation and/or willful misconduct was committed by the employee. It seems as if the place you are at is trying to make things unbearable so that the situation "will work itself out", i.e. a voluntary quit. So, in order for you to make sure you can get unemployment when the time comes, I would go about my business as usual and not rock the boat too much. As long as you don't receive any warnings for policy violations for anything from this point forward, you have a better chance to get unemployemnt if something happens. Still, talk to an attorney in the meantime.

 

[cmsua]

Thanks for the input so far, I am looking forward to receiving other responses.

 

[1madLady]

de novo or Duranie, can you take a look at my thread?

 

[Green_Hornet]

If your hours and pay have been reduced you may be eligible for unemployment now. So file the unemployment claim, if they fire you then it would be tough for them to say it was just cause. In some states it could give rise to a wrongful termination suite if they fired you under those circumstances.

 

[de_novo]

While Green Hornet is right about the ability to file a claim, you need to wait until the separation from your employment occurs. At least in my state, PA, you have to wait a week after the separation in order to file a claim for the benefit week (the week of the actual separation) in order to be eligible. However, your state may have different guidelines for this.