What to do if I was suspended but company procedure was not followed regarding my suspension?
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What to do if I was suspended but company procedure was not followed regarding my suspension?
I was suspended (not terminated) from my job for alleged falsification of records without pay for 2days pending an investigation. I have had no verbal warning, written warning or otherwise. Just a supervisor stating he did not see me for a period of 25 minutes on that particular date and I was clocked in. So he assumed I must have falsified my attendance. According to my employers policies and procedures manual, my letter of suspension was supposed to have “in writing” the dates of the suspension, the length of the suspension, and my right to appeal. The letter of suspension I received did not have this in writing.
Asked on October 31, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
B.H.F., Member, Texas State Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Generally speaking, when an employer does not follow their own internal employment policies, then the failure to follow those policies are not actionable in court. This means that you can't file a lawsuit just because they did not follow their own policy to the letter. This does not mean that you do not have a remedy, though. If you have this detailed of a policy, you probably have a human resources manger (HR Manager) or HR department. You can go ask the HR department to receive your complaint that procedures were not followed and request an appeal of your suspension. If your hand-book contains a 1-800 number for filing appeals or complaints, that may be a similar option, just to a different department. You're probably wondering why companies have these policies if they aren't going to follow them. HR policies are ideally designed to insure that everyone is treated the same way. If a company is sued for some type of employment related discrimination complaint, they want to be able to show that they followed the guidelines to insure that the employee affected received the same treatment as anyone else. If your suspension was motivated by some reason other than a legitimate disciplinary action, then the failure to follow their own guidelines can be evidence of unequal treatment in a discrimination claim.
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