Fired for breaking company rule. No employee handbook
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Fired for breaking company rule. No employee handbook
During a company meeting the owner of the company became extremely angry, yelling and pointing his finger in my face. I felt threaten and made my feelings known to the owner. After he took a walk to cool down, everything seemed fine. 3 days later the owner demanded that I sign a document that would allow him to reassign my customers. I refused to sign and was then told to turn in my company property and was escorted off the property. I applied for unemployment but was denied. The owner of the company claimed that I had broken a company rule and caused material substantially effect to the company. No rule was ever mentioned and the company does not have an Employee Handbook. I would like to be able to collect unemployment, what should I do?
Asked on May 18, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Ohio
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
First of all, as to your firing, unless you had an employment contrsct or union agreement that provided you protection undet the circumstances, you have no claim for unlawful termination. An employer can set the conditions of the workplace much as it sees fit (absent some form of legally actionable discrimination). This means that an employee can be discharged for any reason or no reason at all, with or without notice. However, in this case, handbook or not, your actions my be deemed insubordination and therefore constitute cause for firing. And if an employee is dismissed due to cause, they cannot qualify for unemployment compensation. At this point, you can file an appeal with the unemployment office and see what happens.
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