Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Brutal...Need Legal Ammo (Long)
Hello, I'm new to this board (but not others) but I was hoping for some tips on how to handle a situation that is getting very ugly...
I helped my friend get a job a couple of years ago in the same place I work at. We established customers, did our jobs etc etc with no problems. And we both still work there.
The owner decided that he was getting to old for running the store and signed ownership to his son. And now his son is being a total d!ckwad. Immediately after taking over the reins, he starts harassing my friend. He's very snippy when he talked to her, then tell her she doesn't know how to do her job.
Now, it's like this: he doesn't like her because "she talks too much about sports and I don't like her personality."
So, here's the ugly part. Recently (like, 4 days ago), my friend was informed that she was being punished (from a customer complaining) by having her Thursdays taken away for a month. She went in to work on Saturday and the boss told her to leave and that she "was working Sundays from here on out." When she asked why, his response was "because I said so." (That'll work on a parent to a child, but not an employer to an employee relying on this job to make a living). She was told just a day earlier that she was losing her Thursdays and on that day she was told she was losing ALL but one of her days. (Is that illegal? I don't think it is)
Now, the boss is telling me how he's having his attorney send her a letter detailing all her "transgressions" and if she tries to collect unemployment, he'll deny, deny, deny. The reason for denying her unemployment? She took a 99 cent drink after the ok of the day-time manager. Day-time manager realizes he screwed up and decided to save his a$$ and said she took it. This is all about he said/she said because our security cameras do not work, but yet the boss is going off the word of the manager and ignores everything my friend has to say. As is, he ignores her when she has a legitimate question about the business.
So recap: My friend is now only working Sundays because our boss just doesn't like her, without any warning or explanation other than "Because I said so". He is going to fire her soon, I know this for a fact, but yet he's still going to deny her unemployment over a 99 cent product. He doesn't even want her listing this job on her resume (pff yeah right, she's only been working there 2 years).
So what's the legal recourse for my friend? I've been studying my business law books and finding a little bit of help. But what's the best course for my friend?
Right now I have hostile work environment, null and void contracts (because it was under the old boss' name and not the new one), and partial unemployment..
And before you tell me to stay out of it, I want to nip this in the bud myself because what's going to stop him from doing the same thing to me?
Re: Brutal...Need Legal Ammo (Long)
This.
What's legal varies from state to state.
Unfortunately, being a d!ckwad is no illegal and I don't think this is a hostile work environment in the legal sense.
As for unemployment, every state is different, but most will require the employer to provide proof that she was fired for performance, insubordination, etc. Proof would be performance reviews, write-ups, etc. If the employer doesn't have any of that, your friend will most likely be able to receive unemployment benefits. In some cases, even if the employer does have write-ups, etc, the employee will still get unemployment, it just depends on the situation.
DS1 born June 2008 | m/c at 9w March 2011 | DS2 born April 2012
This.
This is not a hostile work environment. There really isn't anything illegal that has been done. Being a jerk isn't illegal, reducing an employees hours isn't illegal.
Unemployment in my state: if the employer denies the claim then it's denied. The employee has to request a hearing where they have the opportunity to fight the denial.