Possibility of Benefits After a Voluntary Quit Due to Workplace Conditions

[somekindofaction]

My question involves unemployment benefits for the state of: California

Hi, guys. Back again with some questions regarding a situation I posted about months ago.

A briefer: Basically I was working in a place where I was retaliated against for reporting the exploitation of people of a certain ethnicity and reported violations of company policy and ethics as we are required to do by company policy. I was also discriminated against and not given equal treatment when it came to promotions and positions.

The retaliation: Less than two weeks after reporting the situation I received a formal written counseling. Despite my clearly demonstrating it was groundless, my manager maintained it, trying to keep it in my file, for almost 4 weeks forcing me to get HR involved. HR reduced it to a memo of understanding rather than clear it completely. Business traffic of all kinds (including traffic generated by me) was also deliberately directed away from me which decreased my sales performance.


The discrimination: I was not deemed eligible for promotions despite achieving similar levels of success (and failure) in areas that others who were promoted had found. Those who were promoted or given more favorable positions despite having similar levels of success were all the same ethnicity (different from mine). I was told I was not qualified for promotions due to reasons that also applied to the others but did not impede their promotions.

One the first of March I wrote a letter to HR noting my concerns and asking that they please investigate my concerns as required by company policy. I received a response saying they were taking it very seriously and asking me if I wanted to transfer locations. I told them that relocating me as if I was the issue would not be a satisfactory resolution and would only serve to burden me and I was simply looking for them to address and fix the situations.

The result:

HR said they would remove all traces of the formal counseling from my file. I hear back from HR sporadically and I've reached out to them a number of times regarding the other issues and was still subjected to disparate treatment from my managers. Despite HR telling me that I would not be moved because I had done nothing wrong and shouldn't have to make such an adjustment, the DM comes in one Saturday a few weeks ago and tells me that, to address the issues, I am moving branches effective that Monday. He also once again accused me of committing the acts in the now-removed formal counseling and when I asked why he was doing so as it was supposed to have been removed he said "there's still a record."

So nothing really has been done in the almost 4 months outside of me being removed from the office for bringing up the issues.

Sorry this has taken so long to explain. My question is, if I leave, can I file for benefits? I feel like I have made a reasonable effort to solve the problems and maintain employment there and give them a chance to resolve the issues but it doesn't seem like they're actually doing anything outside of using my complaints as platforms to take action against me. I know my issues are protected issues.

Any advice?

Thanks.

[Dogmatique]

You need to read that last paragraph of yours.

[cbg]

If you are asking whether or not you can quit and collect UI, there is no possible way we can give you an answer to that. It is always chancey, no matter what the circumstances, to be depending on receiving UI after a voluntary quit. ONLY the state can give you a binding answer, and they won't do so until after you've already quit and they've conducted an investigation.

You are free to file. Whether you will be approved or not is unknown.

[somekindofaction]

Sorry, but can you elaborate? I'm not sure what angle of meaning you are taking with that. Is my question unreasonable?

And I guess I'm not looking for a definitive "yes/no" so much as insight into precedents and what has happened to others in similar situations.

- - - Updated - - -

The first paragraph was in response to dogmatique. I just wonder if there's something really obvious I'm missing.

[Beth3]

I don't think anyone can even hazard a decent guess what the odds are of your being eligible to receive UC benefits if you quit for the reasons you stated. It would certainly be iffy. Even if you are granted unemployment, it's going to be far less than what you are currently earning plus who knows how long it will take you to find a new job.

Why not start looking for a job elsewhere and when you accept an offer, quit at that time. That's a much safer way to go economically speaking.

[somekindofaction]

That's what I have been doing. This may be a non issue if I land some of these prospects. But with my employer obviously lying in order to take actions against me I know it's a matter of time before they start stickig and I get fired on THEIR terms. If I didn't have that worry I would just stay where I am as I am not too worried about whether people are mean and I can always deal with the many options I have regarding discrimination. But in my line of work you have a lot on the line as far as your career and certain things will render you unemployable in the field if you are fired for them.

Seeing as how they are already trying to pin falsehoods on me, I am concerned about what else may rise.