Seasonal Employee Threatened with Termination Over Unemployment Claim
Hello, I am a seasonal employee in the state of New York. I work for a company that operates within schools during the school year from September to June of each year. During the summer months we are not paid or owed any kind of vacation pay or compensation and are encouraged to work various summer programs with the company.
However, this year there were no positions open for me at any of the summer programs due to some programs being canceled. I was concerned about the lack of income for the summer due to lack of employment and I was encouraged by my boss to file for unemployment as I seek a temporary job until I go back to work in September.
A few days after that conversation I received a letter in the mail from my employer stating the following (with my employer's name removed):
Your position at the -REMOVED- is classified as an A-3, seasonal employee. It is the intent of the -REMOVED- to resume your position each school year. This is to inform you that you have the reasonable expectation to return to work at the -REMOVED- commencing each September until you are notified in writing to the contrary.
Please sign and return one copy of this letter as your acceptance to the above and keep the other for your records. Thank you for all you do for the -REMOVED-.
The letter was very brief and plain, so much that I set it aside and forgot about it for a week. During this week my boss asked me if I had mailed in the letter. When I told her I have not I was informed that if I did not sign and return the letter that it would constitute my resignation from the company. So I signed the letter and returned it to my boss in person.
A few weeks later, summer hits, and I was unable to find a temporary job so I filed for unemployment. I spoke to an agent about my claim, and was verified as being eligible and started receiving my payments. I have had been claiming benefits with no problems for about a month when I received a letter in the mail from my employer.
The letter was to tell me that my employer was contesting my unemployment claim, and attached with it was a copy of the signed letter above that I had signed and turned in. The letter contesting my unemployment claim pointed to the letter posted above as the reason I should not have filed a claim. It stated that since I am a seasonal worker and that I have signed that letter above agreeing to return to work in September that I should not have applied for unemployment benefits.
I was baffled. Sure I have agreed to return to work in September, but until then my employer has no work to offer me. Is that not what unemployment is for? My boss herself had encouraged me to file for unemployment. I applied and was even found qualified and everything was going fine until I got this letter.
So I spoke to some co-workers who also have no work with my company for the summer, and have also applied for unemployment. They too have received the same letter contesting their claims, with the letter we all signed attached, and used as the reasoning for our claims being invalid. I double checked with the New York State Unemployment website and it's stated that seasonal employees are in fact entitled to unemployment benefits like anyone else. So I decided to give my boss a call about the situation.
My boss informs me that the decision about the unemployment situation was not hers, but the CEO's of the company and that she can do nothing about it. She tells me she would not tell any of her employees if they should have or shouldn't have filed an unemployment claim, or to continue claiming benefits, and that it is entirely our decision. She then tells me however that the CEO has told her that any employees claiming unemployment for the summer may or may not have their positions open for them to return to in September. In other words, the CEO has politely said that any employee claiming unemployment would be fired.
Needless to say, the situation is ridiculous. Is this even legal? I'm given the option of not signing the letter above and losing my job, or signing it and somehow forfeiting my rights to unemployment? So either way I'd have no income for two months? Ridiculous. If I were to cease with the unemployment, I would not be able to make my mortgage payment this month. If I continue with it to pay my mortgage, I might be fired from my job and have no work to go back to in September. I'm in between a rock and a hard place and I'm terrified.
So my question is, what can I do? I've qualified for unemployment, I'm entitled to it, can my employer really fire me for accepting it? Has my employer even contacted the state about the situation? The letter contesting it was dated over two weeks ago, and since then I have heard nothing from the state about the situation, and I have since received two payments with no problems. Have they really even contacted the state, or is this all just a scare tactic to try to scare employees out of claiming unemployment benefits?
What are my options?
I'm tearing my hair out over this so any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you so much for reading all of this.
Re: Seasonal Employee Threatened with Termination Over Unemployment Claim
Generally speaking, school employees with a "good chance" of returning to work when the school year starts again are not eligible. Your argument here, however, is probably that you did not work directly for the school district; this is a private employer, correct? You have appealed and you just have to wait. I would not, however, be terribly optimistic, but state unemployment commissions have surprised me in the past.
Having said that, though, if you are fired for claiming your right to FILE (whether your appeal is successful or not), see an attorney for discussions regarding a wrongful termination case.
Re: Seasonal Employee Threatened with Termination Over Unemployment Claim
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PattyPA
Generally speaking, school employees with a "good chance" of returning to work when the school year starts again are not eligible. Your argument here, however, is probably that you did not work directly for the school district; this is a private employer, correct?
Yes, I work for a private company that is only based within various schools in the district during the school year. In previous years you have the option of working summer programs based out of the schools as well as downtown in the office of my company, or just not working the summer at all. If you aren't working a summer job for the company you do not get paid a penny, as we don't receive any sort of vacation pay or other compensation. Because of this many of us work through the summer as well.
However this year due to budgeting reasons, several of our summer programs aren't happening, and we were informed a month before the end of the school year that those jobs would not be available to us. Shortly after that we were given that letter posted above to sign and the return. That letter according to them forfeits our rights to unemployment, and we were forced to sign it to keep our jobs.
I've been working for my employer for nine years now and have never had to sign something like that. Yet this school year our summer programs are cut, and this thing was sprung on us at the last second. Many of us believe this was their entire intention with that letter, once our employer realized several employees would be looking to unemployment for the summer.
It all seems entirely one sided and unfair to us employees that got left without work until September.
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PattyPA
You have appealed and you just have to wait. I would not, however, be terribly optimistic, but state unemployment commissions have surprised me in the past.
Actually none of us have had to appeal yet. The letter contesting our unemployment was sent directly from our employer to us, and was dated over two weeks ago. Thus far no one has heard a word from the unemployment office themselves about the matter, and we have been continuing to claim benefits, and have been receiving payments without a problem. Because of this some of us wonder if our employer has legitimately contacted the state to contest our claims, or if it simply a threat to scare us, as many of us believe that they don't really have a leg to stand on in this dispute.
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PattyPA
Having said that, though, if you are fired for claiming your right to FILE (whether your appeal is successful or not), see an attorney for discussions regarding a wrongful termination case.
It's good to know that we could take legal action if we in fact lose our jobs over claiming unemployment benefits. Thought I must say, the idea of losing my job and having to deal with something like that and the costs that comes with it is extremely intimidating. At this point though I think all I can do is move forward with unemployment and pray that my employer is simply making empty threats.
Re: Seasonal Employee Threatened with Termination Over Unemployment Claim
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Actually none of us have had to appeal yet. The letter contesting our unemployment was sent directly from our employer to us, and was dated over two weeks ago.
You might want to hang on to that. The employer doesn't have any business sending you letters "contesting" your UI. One contests UI with the state, not the employees.
Typically, this happens while your initial claim is in process. You file for UI, your state's UI people contact your employer to verify that you have indeed been laid off for lack of work/end of season/whatever reason. The UI folks will also ask at that time if you were let go for cause (which would render you ineligible). If there is no dispute, and UI finds you eligible, your claim is approved.
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Thus far no one has heard a word from the unemployment office themselves about the matter, and we have been continuing to claim benefits, and have been receiving payments without a problem. Because of this some of us wonder if our employer has legitimately contacted the state to contest our claims, or if it simply a threat to scare us, as many of us believe that they don't really have a leg to stand on in this dispute.
It sounds like an intimidation tactic to me.
As you've already learned, seasonal employees are eligible for UI in your state. (They are in mine, too.) Your employer appears to be making problems for themselves.
Re: Seasonal Employee Threatened with Termination Over Unemployment Claim
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LawResearcherMissy
You might want to hang on to that. The employer doesn't have any business sending you letters "contesting" your UI. One contests UI with the state, not the employees.
I had wondered about that myself, but I wasn't at all sure about how the process worked because I'm entirely new to this unemployment stuff. Thanks for the advice, I'll surely hold on to it.
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LawResearcherMissy
It sounds like an intimidation tactic to me.
As you've already learned, seasonal employees are eligible for UI in your state. (They are in mine, too.) Your employer appears to be making problems for themselves.
Indeed, the general consensus everyone seems to be gathering is that our employer has no legal legs to stand on with this and is just making a huge mistake for themselves should the situation escalate. When I spoke to my boss about it, judging by the tone of her voice, she seemed against it and upset about the situation herself. But being that she works under the CEO who's doing this is, she wasn't in any position to side with us and criticize it.
So I guess this CEO is either just ignorant or she thinks she can do whatever she pleases. We all currently plan to go on collecting payments on our claims and hope this all just blows over. Let's pray our wonderful CEO of ours doesn't try to do anything stupid before we can make it through this last month.