Husband Lost Job Without Any Notice then Found Out a Month Later He Was Fired

[mugwart]

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Washington
A month ago my husband walked into his place of employment, went to office to grab coveralls and start work when Shop Foreman said, "here is your last paycheck". My husband said, "what?" and the SP said, "your position is no longer needed here" and hubby said, "I'm fired?" Again SP said, "Your position is no longer needed here" so my hubby said, "so you're firing me?" and SP again said, "your position is no longer needed here". Puzzled, my husband took his check, said nothing and went out to the shop and proceeded to load what tools he could fit in his truck and came home, then went back to borrow a buddies trailer. The entire family going with him to load his tool boxes on a trailer. We went to Unemployment office and filed stating lack of work because the only thing my husband could figure was happening was the business was downsizing as there were fewer and fewer trucks coming in for repair and some days he cleaned up parking lot because there was nothing else to do. A month later, we get a letter from the Unemployment office stating that he filed a false claim because his Shop Foreman wrote on paper and signed stating he was fired for insubordination because he failed to finish work on a truck that required TWO people and didn't ask for any help when there was supposedly help available. My husband said that was a bunch of BS because the particular incident the Shop Foreman was referring to happened when the Shop Foreman was out of the office for several days, which he was often. One guy was on vacation, another one was laid off and the other two guys were in a completely different shop working on a project the Shop Foreman gave them to do. ALSO, at no time was my husband ever told there was a problem, nor was he ever counseled, warned or anything! He has worked for this place for 6 years! We have to fill out this questionnaire from the Unemployment Office asking questions from my husband about what happened and who told him, etc...plus he may have to pay back the unemployment benefits he received for a week and a half because of this. My husband found another job quickly and is doing well! Some things that need to be told about his former employer is that they do not provide respirators for their employees who weld, which my husband can do too. The Shop Foreman has thrown tools AT employees, yells and cusses a lot amongst other things.

Our worry is that we will get in trouble from L&I for the unemployment benefits because the online form didn't have choices that really fit what happened and because my husband thought it was due to the lessening work load, he put lack of work as the reason. NOW we know what the Shop Foreman put and it's a blatant lie. What recourse do we have? Why would a Shop Foreman write a blatant lie knowing my husband would fight that? We think this came from higher up and the Shop Foreman is thinking they will cover for him when in fact HE may go down the road too! We are considering calling OSHA, WISHA, L&I and reporting this business and especially the Shop Foreman for work place bullying. On L&I website the list for that fits this man perfectly. What can we do?

[PattyPA]

So what is L&I saying now? Has the employer protested/appealed the original determination? Is a hearing/conference scheduled?

[mugwart]

We sent in the questionnaire filled out rebutting what the Shop Foreman said and now waiting to hear regarding that. I sent it Certified Mail return Receipt. My husband says he is expecting a conference and actually hopes there will be one because he wants his Shop Foreman to "face" him and lie. My husband has PLENTY of witnesses that will back him up regarding the false claim the Shop Foreman made if it comes to that. My husband was back to work within 2 weeks for another Employer and only received 1 1/2 weeks of unemployment pay so now because the Shop Foreman lied, the Unemployment Office is saying my husband "may have" been overpaid and pending the outcome of this he "may have" to pay it back. We shouldn't have to pay it back but expect we will have to because we are dealing with a multi-million dollar Oil Company that really needs to be investigated for Occupational Safety Violations and Workplace Bullying & Harassment. This isn't coming from spite, this has been a complaint amongst all the employees the entire 6 years my husband worked there. They simply are afraid to say anything because they have no Union and need their jobs so they put up with it. But when a large truck wrench misses an Employees head by a fraction that was thrown across the shop by the Foreman, that's a bit much to put up with. If the Employee hadn't ducked it would've hit him. This is one of many, many incidents. My husband has it documented in his medical records last February that the Pneumonia he caught was from exposure to chemicals at work due to no protection being available for him to use and he was told to do the job "or else". My husband is the type that follows the rules but when there is BS, he says something. We feel this was personal because the Shop Foreman is afraid he'll say something and so he is lying about my husband to descredit him so no one will believe him. So, we wait to hear what the next step will be...

[mugwart]

Well it's been 3 weeks since L&I received our Return Receipt as it was dated they received it July 29th and we haven't heard one word. What is taking so long? We suspect they contacted former employer with our rebuttal and they are making a determination on whether we pay unemployment money back or not. We also suspect we may not have to pay it back. How far off base am I on this?? Anyone?

[cbg]

What is taking so long?

The fact that there are more unemployment claims than ever before, and the accompanying fact that at the same time as claims went up, UI staff went down. So there are now less UI staff to process more claims, and it is naturally taking longer.

[Scott67]

I would just offer one piece of advice if a conference is scheduled. Your husband should not get into the accusations of wrong doing against the company that you have raised in your post. He should present his case as you have stated it. He was not given a reason for the termination and when he asked multiple times if he was being fired, he was given a non-committal answer with no explanation. With nothing else to go on, he assumed he was being layed off for lack of work. Since he had never been counseled, he had no knowledge of any complaints on his performance and does not understand why the Shop Foreman is making those accusations now.

[mugwart]

Thank you Scott, that is exactly what we thought he should do and that is exactly what my husband wrote on the paperwork L&I sent to him. Everything that was said by my husband and the Shop Foreman was put in quotes, we kept copies and sent the original Certified Mail with Return Receipt. We received that receipt showing L&I received the paperwork on July 29th. They stated in their original letter that they needed to determine if my husband deserved the Unemployment Benefits and if he didn't then we are to pay it back. That determination would be made once they received my husbands response. We don't understand what is taking so long to hear back from them. Did they send my husbands rebuttal to his former Employer? Or are they basing a decision on information they already have? Either way, we were given a 5 day deadline to have my husbands response post marked by and they received it BEFORE the deadline they gave him. Shouldn't there be a deadline for this issue to be resolved? We just want to know if we are done with this or not? If not, then why not? Your thoughts?

For the record, my husband drew 1 1/2 weeks of unemployment and has since been back to work full time for another Company. Why would a multi-million dollar company fight $850.00 Unemployment Benefits that were paid BEFORE we received anything from L&I stating there was a problem? In fact, my husband was already working when we heard from them. So in summary, it took a month to notify us there was an issue when we thought the matter closed.

[cbg]

No, they did not send the rebuttal to the employer. Never once did I ever have the employment office send me the rebuttal of an employee when I contested benefits. I've already told you what is taking so long.

[mugwart]

Thank you cbg, I missed your original post. I went back and read it and what you said makes perfect sense. We are simply upset and hurt by the whole issue and don't know if we have to pay it back or not. We're thinking we shouldn't have to. We just want to be done and move on.