wrongful termination? (per-diem work)

[sithik]

First and foremost, I work in a "at-will" state. I work in Pennsylvania and the "corporate office" is in New York and yes I am an employee not an independant contractor.

I work per-diem (piece rate) and not hourly rate. Now, realistically I'm curious if technically I would have a "start time" and "end time"? I don't want to get an answer like "look in your handbook". As far as end time would go realistically it's whenever I get done with my installations/service calls for the day, and when I am done with my work for the day I do not have to go back to the warehouse and tell them I am done I go straight home, again in the company van.

At any rate, the company lets us take the company owned vans home with us, so in my opinion when I'm in the van (driving home, or even driving to the warehouse to pickup materials, paycheck, etc. I feel as though I'm working. (right or wrong?)

So, onto the background now, I have a 1 year old daughter. My wife works third shift 11pm-7am, my drive to the warehouse takes approximately 20-25 minutes so I am technically driving to the warehouse from 7:30 and arriving at 8am. The reason I state that is due to the fact, my "scheduled" (as in installs/service calls are within a 8-5 timeframe) work day is 8am-5pm would that not classify me as starting my work day at 7:30am and not 8am when I arrive at the warehouse? Needless to say, I arrived at the warehouse today at 8:05am, which being it's a Monday (payday, paperwork turn-in) they would like (more like, expect) us to be at the warehouse early as in 6:30am, again not being paid for that time. I don't get paid drive time, nor anytime I am at the warehouse, I get paid strictly for the installation, service call. The only way I think the company gets around not paying us for the drive time, warehouse time is due to the fact that anyone in the business is realistically getting paid minimum wage no matter how many hours you work because the pay per install/service call is very good, so you would have to "work" more than 80 hours or so a week to not be getting paid minimum wage.

Again, sorry for taking so long to get to the point, but I've told multiple supervisors on multiple occasions that due to my childcare issues (noone being able to watch my daughter) on Mondays I could not make it in any earlier than 8am (which was agreed upon by multiple supervisors throughout my tenure with the company), which on a good drive day is possible. Today being there was a little more congestion than normal I arrived 5 minutes "late" (again there is no real "start" time). So pretty much they essentially said I would be getting suspended for 1 week, which I really didn't think nothing of since I had a job at least. When you get suspended they "exit" you from the van (taking all you personal belongings until the suspension is over) and do a tool inspection (making sure everything is still there and not lost/stolen) when it came time to show them the company paid gas card (which is supposed to be in the van at all times) wasn't in the van and it was at my house (another story entirely and no I didn't use it for my personal vehicle) that is when they literally right after I told them I would have to give it to the supervisor driving me home is when they terminated me.

My 2 questions are, would that constitute me being eligible for unemployment (yes I already filed, but id like some opinions as to if I may be eligible in this situation) and secondly would it constitute any sort of legal action being as though the whole drive time to work in the company vehicle, being classified as working?

Thanks for any comments, suggestions.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

As an at-will employee you could be terminated for any reason. With regard to your unemployment claim, that is where it may be interesting. If they claim that they fired you for a cause - and thus making you ineligible for unemployment - you may choose to take issue with the company. You'd also want to get the story straight as to why you were laid off/terminated since an unemployment office may ask you questions about this.

 

[sithik]

As an at-will employee you could be terminated for any reason. With regard to your unemployment claim, that is where it may be interesting. If they claim that they fired you for a cause - and thus making you ineligible for unemployment - you may choose to take issue with the company. You'd also want to get the story straight as to why you were laid off/terminated since an unemployment office may ask you questions about this.

Well, before I left with the supervisor who took me home, I asked them if I needed to sign any termination papers and they stated no. I asked them for a copy of something stating why I was terminated and they said I would receive a letter from HR (not based out of that building, based out of NY) as
to why. I sincerely hope me leaving and not demanding something before I left they don't screw me over by sending nothing where they can simply say they fired me for any particular reason although being at-will they could.

In regards to the story straight, not saying you don't believe what I said, but this is how the day went:

Comp: Why weren't you here at 8am like we agreed upon last week? (granted as bad as it may end, I have to give them credit for at least acknowledging my childcare issue and trying to work with me)

Me: I'm sorry the traffic was a little heavier than normal.

Comp: What I think were going to do here is suspend you for a week. After the week is over Rich (one of the supervisors) will decide if he wants to bring you back or not.

Me: Ok.


*Upon doing the van inspection when they exit you while suspended*

Comp (asking the fleet safety manager who was taking me home, after finding out the gas card wasn't in the van and at my house): You mean the gas card isn't in the van? That's easy, termination.


That is LITERALLY word for word what was said on both conversations, no funny remarks/gestures on my behalf or nothing.

Personally just because of the job market with not knowing if you can find a job that pays what you need within a week or months even I sincerely hope UC can at least help me out, but again that's why I'm asking for comments as to what others thing while patiently waiting for the UC letter.



As another question, when someone files for UC whats the process? The UC received the filing and mails the company asking what happened? Then they make their decision or what?