What can I do if I was wrongly fired and now my ex-employer is saying that I quit?
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What can I do if I was wrongly fired and now my ex-employer is saying that I quit?
I was fired from my job as a cashier at the beginning of this year. It was during an audit that my drawer was turning up short quite a bit that month. I knew for a fact that I wasn’t stealing or miscounting the change to the customers. A few weeks later the manager who was present the night I was terminated was then fired himself. I was told they caught on camera stealing money. So why couldn’t I get my job back? I tried over and over to go back but I was always denied my return. At one point I was told I couldn’t get my job back because once fired I couldn’t be rehired. Months passed but I couldn’t find a no work so I applied for unemployment; soon enough I was collecting. Then a few weeks later I was told by one of the managers from my old job that the general manager received an e-mail from unemployment asking him to give more information on why I got fired. Apparently on my paperwork they put that I voluntarily quit. Where did they get that I quit? Who knows. One of the managers from that store was moved to a new store to become general manager there. He’s the only manager that has been trying to help me through all this. He was told some time after I got fired that once he had gotten his own store that he could rehire me at that location. So he checked my status to see if I could be rehired; he was told yes. However a few days after that he called me to tell me that he couldn’t rehire me because the district manager who fired me said no. To make matters worse I got a letter for an appeal hearing stating that my ex-employer says I voluntarily quit for personal reasons and that continued work was available. When I filed for unemployment I filed saying I was terminated which is exactly what happened but now they want to go against that saying that I quit voluntarily which is not true.
Asked on July 22, 2011 Florida
Answers:
FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Frm the facts supporting your question, it seems that your former employer wants to contest your claim for unemployment insurance benefits claiming thta you quit voluntarily versus the employer terminating you for cause.
If an employee is terminated and the employee did not do any illegal or wrongful activity warranting his or her termination, the employee is typically entitled to collect unemployment benefits for a stated period of time under the laws of most States.
However, if the employee voluntarily quits his or her job, then the employee typically is not entitled to receive unemployment benefits.
When a former employee receives unemployment benefits, his or her last employer's unemployment insurance account is charged with the benefits that are being paid.
Receiving unemployment benefits and a wrongful termination lawsuit against your former employer are two different issues. To keep your unemployment benefits paid, you need to go down to the unemployment office in your county and meet with someone about your claim.
As to a possible wrongful termination lawsuit, perhaps consulting with a wrongful termination lawyer on the subject is warranted at this stage for you.
Good luck.
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