Qualifying for Unemployment After Voluntarily Quitting

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Michigan

My fiance is having all sorts of problems at her job. She works for big pharmacy corporate who will remain unnamed because, unlike them, we have some class. We frequently just refer to them as the devil, though.

The issues started out when she was getting harassed at work. They would pick at her daily until even someone from her HR department noticed first hand and had a meeting with all of the employees in her department. I'm sure they were smelling a law suit(it was that bad) so they tried to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible. Admittedly, since then, she says it has been better but not entirely perfect... but it had gone on for a LONG time before that.

Another issue is that, despite having the best 'scores' and being the top performer in the entire department, she is regularly passed up for promotions for individuals of color who perform substantially worse, have no degree, skip work and have been there for much less time. She inquires about why she was not chosen and they flat out told her the most recent time "diversity needs". We both feel strongly like they are being racist towards white people in this office place. It is more or less blatant. The white people in this place of business are not given a fair shake and it has been talked about frequently among the white employees here that this is more or less a mill for this company to show they accept people of color with open arms and has absolutely Nothing at all to do with actual job performance.

But the most pertinent issue and the reason why I'm writing this now is a situation where they have forced her to work overtime when they originally agreed they would not. She had went in to her supervisor's office and had a discussion with her about going back to school. She inquired about whether or not she would have to work overtime because if she did there wasn't any way she could go back at the present time. Her supervisor said she would make sure that she did not have to work it. Since she got the OK from her supervisor, she went and signed up for classes. Now, school has started and they've went back on their word and are forcing her to work overtime because other people in the department have quit(because the place is awful - many people not even giving 2 weeks) and they are NOT looking to hire anyone else to fill the void, just pawn the rest of the work off on the very few employees left in the department. So the issue with school is huge; she's stretched to her physical and mental limits every day of her life. Except Sunday, which is the only day of the week she has off now. Yes, they are making her come in on Saturday to work overtime now as well. She has literally no time to study or do homework, much less have any free time to herself. But the absolute biggest issue now is that they have FORCED her to come into work today, to work overtime, on a Saturday, during a LEVEL 2 SNOW EMERGENCY and she got into a bad accident on the highway. Luckily she was not seriously hurt. She had gotten into a less serious accident previously as well when they were requiring employees to come in regardless of weather conditions with threats of severe consequences if people miss work. We feel like this last thing is absolutely the last straw. She is not going to risk her life for a company that pays her less than $15 an hour. On top of that, because of them, we now have a car that doesn't work and we can't afford to get a new car.

With taking all of this into consideration, would she be eligible for voluntary unemployment benefits(in Michigan) until she finds something else? Without being eligible, there is no way we could pay the bills every month and she would have to continue literally risking her life for this company that has utter disregard for its employees. Please give me some legal insight into this. We need help.

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Quoting rick01

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My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Michigan

My fiance is having all sorts of problems at her job. She works for big pharmacy corporate who will remain unnamed because, unlike them, we have some class. We frequently just refer to them as the devil, though.

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Oh yeah, real classy. Uh huh. Truth: you don't want to name names because you're smart enough to realize that a defamation suit just really isn't a good thing. ;)

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The issues started out when she was getting harassed at work. They would pick at her daily until even someone from her HR department noticed first hand and had a meeting with all of the employees in her department. I'm sure they were smelling a law suit(it was that bad) so they tried to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible. Admittedly, since then, she says it has been better but not entirely perfect... but it had gone on for a LONG time before that.

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A lawsuit for what?

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Another issue is that, despite having the best 'scores' and being the top performer in the entire department, she is regularly passed up for promotions for individuals of color who perform substantially worse, have no degree, skip work and have been there for much less time. She inquires about why she was not chosen and they flat out told her the most recent time "diversity needs". We both feel strongly like they are being racist towards white people in this office place. It is more or less blatant. The white people in this place of business are not given a fair shake and it has been talked about frequently among the white employees here that this is more or less a mill for this company to show they accept people of color with open arms and has absolutely Nothing at all to do with actual job performance.

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How many other whites have been passed over for promotion? How many non-whites?

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But the most pertinent issue and the reason why I'm writing this now is a situation where they have forced her to work overtime when they originally agreed they would not. She had went in to her supervisor's office and had a discussion with her about going back to school. She inquired about whether or not she would have to work overtime because if she did there wasn't any way she could go back at the present time. Her supervisor said she would make sure that she did not have to work it. Since she got the OK from her supervisor, she went and signed up for classes. Now, school has started and they've went back on their word and are forcing her to work overtime because other people in the department have quit(because the place is awful - many people not even giving 2 weeks) and they are NOT looking to hire anyone else to fill the void, just pawn the rest of the work off on the very few employees left in the department. So the issue with school is huge; she's stretched to her physical and mental limits every day of her life. Except Sunday, which is the only day of the week she has off now. Yes, they are making her come in on Saturday to work overtime now as well. She has literally no time to study or do homework, much less have any free time to herself. But the absolute biggest issue now is that they have FORCED her to come into work today, to work overtime, on a Saturday, during a LEVEL 2 SNOW EMERGENCY and she got into a bad accident on the highway. Luckily she was not seriously hurt. She had gotten into a less serious accident previously as well when they were requiring employees to come in regardless of weather conditions with threats of severe consequences if people miss work. We feel like this last thing is absolutely the last straw. She is not going to risk her life for a company that pays her less than $15 an hour. On top of that, because of them, we now have a car that doesn't work and we can't afford to get a new car.

With taking all of this into consideration, would she be eligible for voluntary unemployment benefits(in Michigan) until she finds something else? Without being eligible, there is no way we could pay the bills every month and she would have to continue literally risking her life for this company that has utter disregard for its employees. Please give me some legal insight into this. We need help.

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If she quits, she will likely not get UI.

Sorry, but the employer has the right to ask her to work overtime, and the right to fire her if she can't/won't.

May I please offer some constructive criticism?

Stop with the hyperbole. There's no "utter disregard", she's not having to "continue literally risk her life". She is a grown up, and she has a choice. She can either deal with their requirements, or she can quit. She's not being forced, either - not in the real sense.

So moving on, assuming she's non-exempt, the company is under no obligation to allow her time off with pay. If they close voluntarily for bad weather, they're under no obligation to pay her. It might be shoddy practice, but it's not illegal. Even if the State mandates a snow emergency.

Now having said all of that, is there any binding policy or employee handbook discussing this?

It is VERY difficult to qualify for unemployment if you quit. I will not even pretend to guess whether the company's reneging on the no-overtime promise would qualify her. If I had to guess, I would say not. This is going to sound harsher than I mean it to be, but her school schedule is not her employer's problem. There is nothing in either Federal or Michigan law (or, for that matter, the laws of 47 other states) that limit the number of hours she can be required to work and nothing in Federal law or the law of any state that prohibits mandatory overtime or, for that matter, requires that she be given any notice before being required to come in.

If you don't mind my saying so, you're focusing on the wrong thing. The state is not going to give two hoots that she doesn't like her hours (even under the circumstances you describe, and I'm not saying she is wrong to dislike them). It is not illegal to require that she work overtime, even excessively; it is not illegal to mandate that she come in when she would normally be off, even during a level two snow emergency. Many, many forms of harassment are legal (you have not provided enough information to know if the alleged harassment in your first paragraph were or were not legal - it is not the degree of harassment that makes it illegal, but the reason for it).

The ONLY thing you have described that is DEFINITELY illegal is basing promotions on the basis of race. That is blatantly illegal and should be reported to the EEOC. But whether she could quit and still get UI is very much a question that can only be answered by the UI unemployment office, and only then after she's already quit and they've done an investigation.

I suggest you refer to chapter 9 paragraph 3 of "The Manly Man Manual" which clearly states when the woman folk are too incompetent to drive their car, you are to drop off and pick them up from work.

Level Two Snow Emergency: Driving is discouraged and residents should call ahead before heading to work.
(sorry ladies had to say it. My wife has never stayed home due to the snow.)

Yes, discouraged but not forbidden.

Now, had it been a level three, we might be having a slightly different conversation.

The weather here has sucked for the entire month. Somehow, her boss and other co-workers are getting to work....and yes, I was snowed in for 3 days earlier this month (yep, Michigan). A local Kroger was having their employees walk to the main roads to be picked up for work.

There is always "At Will" employment. Kroger is Union. So is Meijer. If they could fire people who could not make it to work....

While I'd like to see employers be forgiving of stuff like literally not being able to get out of your driveway/subdivision and the nearest bus stops are closed, so walking 3 miles in 18 inches of snow in sub-zero temps is your only option...so stay home....that's not the reality we live in with our 24/7/365 world.

I've had to work retail, drive to 7 stores on a route, with Strep Throat and a doctors note or be fired.

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Quoting Dogmatique

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Oh yeah, real classy. Uh huh. Truth: you don't want to name names because you're smart enough to realize that a defamation suit just really isn't a good thing. ;)

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I'm sure they would try to sue me because they're classless, soulless devils.

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A lawsuit for what?

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Harassment.

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How many other whites have been passed over for promotion? How many non-whites?

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Whites do not get promoted within this department of the company, as previously mentioned only minorities are promoted.

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Sorry, but the employer has the right to ask her to work overtime, and the right to fire her if she can't/won't.

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Agree with you completely that they have the right, but not when something important was agreed upon between her and management in which a lot of money was involved(college) and then they go back on the agreement.

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May I please offer some constructive criticism?

Stop with the hyperbole. There's no "utter disregard", she's not having to "continue literally risk her life". She is a grown up, and she has a choice. She can either deal with their requirements, or she can quit. She's not being forced, either - not in the real sense.

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Not in a literal sense, she's not being forced, no. But more or less. In order to be able to live, she has to show up to work every day. I suppose she could choose to be homeless.

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Now having said all of that, is there any binding policy or employee handbook discussing this?

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If there is, we're not aware of it.

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Quoting cbg

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It is VERY difficult to qualify for unemployment if you quit. I will not even pretend to guess whether the company's reneging on the no-overtime promise would qualify her. If I had to guess, I would say not. This is going to sound harsher than I mean it to be, but her school schedule is not her employer's problem.

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I agree, 1000%. We are not unreasonable people. We would have been fine with it had they said "No, we're going to need you to work those overtime hours.". However, they did not say that, so she went forward with a $10,000 decision based on a verbal agreement made between her and management.

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The ONLY thing you have described that is DEFINITELY illegal is basing promotions on the basis of race. That is blatantly illegal and should be reported to the EEOC. But whether she could quit and still get UI is very much a question that can only be answered by the UI unemployment office, and only then after she's already quit and they've done an investigation.

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Should she go into HR and use the EEOC as leverage of sorts? Should she heavily stress this during her interview with UI office, or should she be stressing the agreement her employer made with her previously about required overtime and then entering into a $10,000 agreement of sorts with an institution based on that agreement? I'm unclear on which is worse and which should be the focal point.

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Now, had it been a level three, we might be having a slightly different conversation.

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Enh, not so much.

My local news station had an employment law attorney on during the last "Polar Vortex" because we remained under a Level 3 for 5 days, and people were being told to come into work anyway. People were under the impression that they could not be fired for refusing to report. The attorney said nope, they can absolutely be fired under the doctrine of At Will. She said if they sued for wrongful dismissal, they MIGHT prevail on public policy grounds, as the snow emergency levels are codified in ORC 311.07 and 311.08, and penalties for "misconduct during an emergency" (like driving under a Level 3) are covered by ORC 2917.13. Snow emergency levels are determined at the County level by the Sheriff's department.

But here's a very fun fact: Michigan does not have legally defined snow emergency levels. Mayors may declare a snow emergency and order schools shut and activities canceled at the city level, but there is no penalty for being on the road in crappy conditions. In SOME counties in Michigan, the county commissioners have 3 levels of snow ADVISORIES, and compliance is 100% voluntary. For law enforcement to get involved, the commissioners need to declare a "local state of emergency". THAT hasn't happened since the Blizzard of '78. At least, not in Monroe County, which I can walk to from my house in Ohio, or in Lenawee County, where the winery I volunteer in is located. Neither have such been declared in Wayne or Washtenaw counties, where I spend a great deal of time.

So, either our OP is making some things up, or the wife works in Ohio.

Okay, OP, let's get some details here.

Let's leave the race thing out of it for now; we'll get to that in a minute.

OUTSIDE of the race issues, please define, IN DETAIL, the alleged harassment she has been subjected to.

You are going about this very much the wrong way and if you keep this up, you just may get your fiancee fired.

We've got a car that is hardly drive-able.... I wonder how the OP would have felt if there were no tow truck drivers available because they didn't want to come to work
Maybe someone got really sick and had to go to the hospital only to find that there were no doctors. They shouldn't be required to go to work right?
Police officers? Nope. Too dangerous
Those delivery drivers that are delivering the pharmaceuticals to the places that dispense them to the sick people... nope. Not available.

Not to mention, he never answered the question about how many black people were turned down for a promotion or are we to assume that EVERY person of color has been promoted and it's ONLY the white people who haven't?

And what is the first thing everyone did upon being plowed and shoveled out? Went to the grocery store!