My boss won’t schedule me or fire me

They stopped scheduling me

Posted by Dante

(Los Angeles, CA)

Can I file for unemployment if I stopped getting scheduled? On Friday I came into work and before I clocked in, a manager told me to go home since we were overstaffed.

As soon as I walked out of the building, I got a notification saying my shift for the next day was taken off the schedule. So, when I walked back in to ask the manager about it, he said he would call me that night.

It has currently been 5 days and I have yet to hear back from the manager and the schedule for next week, has been put out and I was not put on. I’ve been working at this place with no issues and no write-ups and when I asked the manager, he said I was under investigation, yet didn’t tell me exactly what the situation was.

Do I deserve to receive unemployment for a substantial reduction in hours? I’m concerned my employer is setting me up for when they respond to the EDD.

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Hi Dante

“I know management and the owner are known for firing people and not telling them; they just take them off the schedule.” to mean you’re aware you probably shouldn’t choose lack of work as the reason for applying?

But, when I am in doubt of what direction to take, to just answer a question, I do at least try to force the need for objectivity onto the situation, even if that comes with an even larger dose of realistic expectation developed while I coordinated UI appeal hearings for employer.

Employees are generally not the victims of an unemployment department, unless you consider that an UI depts. expects our choices to made as reasonable human beings who may, or may not know how unemployment claims work after some important facts are established.

And for me, this frequently pertains to knowing it helps to created relevant documentation, capable of adding weight to relevant facts about the actual cause, or fault for the separation.

Fact is, this is quite possible for even employees to do before we quit, get fired, or assume we were basically laid off from a job due to a reduction in hours.

So, if someone, such as yourself, tells me they aren’t guilty of even an “unknown” act of misconduct, it doesn’t keep me from wondering how you will plan to prove / rebut, that later at a hearing, so the employer can’t sustain guilt of work related misconduct in California if they happen to appeal benefits, or you need to appeal to get benefits.

Appeal whatever your employer chooses to relate your separation with to an actual issue of UI laws in CA.

Even if the only issue of concern to the employer involves avoiding your ability to establish you merely the victim of a clever method this employer may use frequently to offload it’s overstaff because it works to help them avoid the responsibility of higher UI taxes, if you get any partial unemployment benefits because of the employer’s need to substantially reduce hours and that is what run contrary to the original terms of your hire when you accepted the job as being suitable for you to work.

It’s clear to me what may be happening to you is just common ruse that has likely proven itself to work wonders and has become a strategy refined over time to sidestep the higher cost of fault when an employer gets the blame, and despite what may be the actual facts surrounding the separation, a claimant can’t prove.

The sad part for me is when I see the word “management” I just think, ah a boss or, other employees who actually get what it means to serve and work only for the best interest of an employer. But no employer, not even a small business owner, has the right to expect an employee to lie, or manipulate the cause of separation is what makes an employee, a worthwhile employee.

In the end Denise, I don’t want you to be completely blindsided should the EDD ask questions pertaining to why you may of voluntary quit by job abandonment, or digging for what you might of done to deserve a discharge for misconduct, or ask why did you pick “laid off for a lack of work” if you knew before you filed for benefits, your employer had suspended you pending an investigation for a reason unknown to you at this point in time.

Chris

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Not being put on the schedule

Posted by Timothy

I work in fast food and the shift varies and changes weekly. anywhere from 2-4 days a week. However, I have not been scheduled to work in over a month and a half. they say they are training new employees so there is no room on the schedule. I have not been let go but am not working. can i collect unemployment?

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Hi Timothy,

You may be able to, but I’d have to ask questions about what you were told when first hired and I’d also need to know what state it is, in case you can only work part-time.

In any case, you should file for unemployment since they still consider you an employee, but have told you there is no work available at the moment that would be a partial lack of work claim and entitle you to partial benefits, but of course, like I said the conditions of hire can have a bearing on the claim.

Chris

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They refuse to schedule me for shifts but won’t actually fire me

by Crystal
(Chicago, IL)

Hi,

I have been a waitress at an Irish pub in Chicago for the last year. I have never been written up for anything while I’ve been there. I have had a couple small misunderstandings with my boss in the past that I immediately corrected when they were brought to my attention. Then today my boss accused me of giving away drinks this past Saturday, which was unofficial St. Patrick’s Day. First off, I would like to say that I have never stolen a thing in my life, and that includes giving out free products from work.

For every “questionable” circumstance he brought up I gave a truthful and logical explanation, needless to say, he refused to listen to my side of the story. My main problem now is that they gave away all of my current shift and told me that they didn’t know if they were going to schedule me again in the future, but every time that I asked if I was fired he just kept saying no but we don’t think we’re going to schedule you anymore.

This whole thing is also happening at the same time that the employee who I was hired to replace just moved back to the area, and when I looked to see who they gave my shifts to it was her. I don’t know if they actually think that I would ever steal from them or if they were just looking for any excuse to give the former waitress her old shifts back. But, either way I have not been officially fired and I have no idea where to go from here.

Thanks,
Crystal

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Chris’s Response to “They refuse to schedule me for shifts but won’t actually fire me”

Crystal, you should file for partial unemployment benefits since they won’t fire you and instead have reduced your hours by not scheduling you.

Chris

 

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My boss won’t schedule me or fire me

by A.

(California)

I’ve only work at my job for about a month or so but my first two weeks I worked anywhere from 3 1/2 hours to 7 hours with no days off or any breaks then I got the stomach flu & was sent home by my boss he gave me 3 days off before I went in & explained I was no longer sick & wanted to work again. He called me into work a few days but only had me there for 3 to 4 hours at most before he’d send me back home, now he isn’t scheduling me any & I’ve asked numerous times to work but he just says take day off.

I finally asked why I wasn’t working & his comment was I look too tired or sick at end of busy rushes. I told him I wasn’t & said I didn’t understand why he thought that after I did fine working two weeks without day off & worked more during that two weeks than I am now. I asked if I could get changed to different shift if he felt that way with no response. I’ve said I would work any shifts even if only a few hours a day but want to work. What can I do?

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Chris’s Response to “My boss won’t schedule me or fire me”

Here is some advice:

1. If you’re going to just talk about something with a boss, you would also be ignoring my advice to make certain you document conversations with a boss in such a way as to make clear to the boss, your understanding of what was said. Email is still good for something as when printed, they have the ability to confirm you acted and made efforts to preserve the employment with the date and time an email was sent, or received for evidence purposes.
2. Once you have documented what you asked for and what you got in response from an employer, then I would say the situation calls for an unemployment claim that presents a temporary “lack of work” situation.
3. Without this ability to prove the real situation of why you’re not working, you leave a less than honest employer wide open to responding to your claim that you voluntarily quit your job by abandonment when you went home sick, but then you in particular, would also need paystubs to prove that wasn’t true and the fact that your hours may of been cut to the point making you eligible for a partial unemployment benefit.
4. Is there no one above this person you can go to also to try to resolve the situation, documenting your efforts along the way, as well?

Comments for My boss won’t schedule me or fire me

What to do when a boss uses his authority over you as a punitive weapon by: Chris Is it just me, or does anyone else think of “monkey see, monkey do” after witnessing their president behave as a temperamental chef, baker, or candlestick maker as being connected to some boss’s aha moment? No matter, I do. You also didn’t mention if California is the state this happened in, so I’ll presume it is. First, I have so much I think I should explain, in something like a preamble, but to save my sanity, and to actually increase the odds I can can continue to earn a small living from giving more detailed unemployment tips. I’ll try to keep this general and only because you gave me information I can chew on:) First, I need to ask if there is someone, anyone else, who is possibly, presumably, a person with actual authority over this person you have suggested, is your boss? If there is, that is who I think you must contact, (and I mean for the purpose of documenting a communication that lays out critical elements you can prove as fact for UI) in case my next tip, to file an unemployment claim for partial unemployment benefits, just in case this type of temporary layoff ever happens to you again, or if filing results in your termination, or you ever end up quitting, you won’t be completely devoid of any evidence you can make work for getting benefits. The problem with documenting is it often turns out to be a double edged sword in that what you document can be important to proving facts you need to prove, but can also motivate nuts to think they need to finally fire someone, without evidence of misconduct, or with made-up evidence. When faced with petulance from a leader, as their subordinate, you must consider the delusional nature of the leader, if he/she thinks being a leader entitles them to punishing employees for no good reason vs. documenting via write-ups and progressive discipline policy, to verify the employee was responsible for their own termination. (Sorry I may watch too many Food Network shows filled with egos, but I’m thinking you work for a petulant chef celebrity.) The purpose of documenting is to to clearly explain the facts and circumstances of a situation in such a way, as to hit all the relevant notes to unveil the acts of an unreasonable employer. This is the exact opposite of what employers are attempting to do when they issue written warnings to at-will employees they are allowed to fire at will for no good cause without repercussions because of the underlying doctrine of at-will employment, which is not a law, but an ideology. Unemployment laws however have been interpreted by decisions to acknowledge that even a boss can be an unreasonable ass. This preemptive laying down of facts, as long as you’re relating only the facts connected to the current terms and conditions of your employment can go a long way should the worse happen and you end up either rebutting if fired, or proving multi-efforts to preserve your job first, if you quit and need to collect full unemployment benefits. The wild cards here either come from the abusive party in the relationship willing to go all in and lie about those efforts if you quit, or create the perception of misconduct, all bundled up in a tidy pile of documents to explain the employee had been previously warned. The reason why I’m now rambling, is I don’t think it’s written anywhere in employment, or unemployment law (at least not clearly), but when arguing to unemployment laws at lower level appeal hearings, there is this concept that what can make an employer unreasonable, is if they actually use their authority to go beyond directing subordinates and use it as a weapon to dispense intimidating and unreasonable punishment, that somehow contradicts the terms and conditions of the employment relationship, hours worked being one of them. Documenting to correct a situation at work, becomes what a reasonable employee is expected to preserve their job and that is something I know can be found in precedent UI decisions. So, what I would do, if I my boss took me off the schedule for a week over a bullshit reason? I would begin a campaign to document facts, so I could improve my ability to prove the reason was bullshit in the first place (and I mean even if I had to deliver the communication directly to the overlord dispensing the BS. As for this: I was not about to have someone yelling at me I am a 5’1 female so I left. That might be a relevant factor for UI benefits, if you felt physically intimidated, or in fear of bodily injury, but it might also be relevant to document as a preemptive attempt to preserve your job when you describe the incident in an emailed communique factually, and objectively, instead of emotionally And I might also tell you as a fellow 5’1″ female and now so over the hill I finally have that attitude I wish I’d found when younger. I definitely would have clocked out too, but also fantasizing about leaving the boss a parting gift to remember me by, before opting to take the strategic high road. By the way, California may have a one week unpaid waiting week, I just can’t remember off the top of my head, but I know this is a good resource if you are working in California.

same issue by: Anonymous I am the top person in the kitchen where I work. In the last 6 months my boss has completely taken me off for the whole week over his personal opinions. This has happened 3 times. Yesterday I had a great day at work. Went to ask my boss a question and he was in a bad mood got mad at me for trying to ask him something. Told me to clock out and go home. I was not about to have someone yelling at me I am a 5’1 female so I left. That night the schedule gets released and for this upcoming week yet again I’m taken off. I am wondering what is the first step. I know what he is doing is very wrong but he owns his business and its a small pop and mom shop. He is the top of the chain and I know that he does these things with other people too help? Stop the work retaliation :( Posted by Pedro