Laid Off as a Manager, and Only Lower-Paid Jobs are Open

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: mn. 3 chef Mgrs including me run a kitchen. District Mgr held a meeting with us and said there should have never been 3 chef Mgrs. So we are refiguring labor.1 Mgr 1 senior cook 2 cooks 1 and utility. All of these positions will pay less than I make now. Have been there 11 years.I was told I can apply for these new positions. But can,t afford to make less money. I wasn,t fired yet. not sure what to do. They are posting the jobs in 2 weeks.Any help will be appreciated.If I just leave now can I get unemployment or is that quiting Also I got nothing in writing, should I request this?

Ok

real simple;

an employer can lay off one worker and hire another if they so choose. They could do it for the same position if they choose to. They do not have to transfer you to an open job nor do they have to even offer it to you.

Of course that is presuming there is no contract or cba governing

DO NOT QUIT. DO NOT LEAVE NOW. That is job abandonment. This will keep you from being approved for unemployment benefits. When they tell you that they no longer have a job for you, as in, don't come in tomorrow, your job has been eliminated, or we're firing you, or go away, don't come back. THEN is the time for you to stop showing up for work. And you immediately file a claim for unemployment benefits at this point.

To get unemployment, you need to be able to say you are out of work through no fault of your own. You did not choose to quit them, they gave your job to someone else, or quit you in some way, told you you no longer had a job there. Then you immediately file for unemployment benefits. You tell them the circumstances, that the company told YOU not to come back, not that you stopped going in. You are out of work through no fault of your own. The company must prove, to keep you from getting unemployment, that they had a valid misconduct reason to get rid of you and give your job to someone else. Even performance issues aren't very good for proving this. If you tell the unemployment system that you showed up every day you were supposed to and did the job to the best of your abilities, then you are in pretty good shape to draw. But work till they tell you to go. They can choose to lay you off or let you go or replace you with another worker, but if they do not have a very good reason to do so, reason related to your misconduct in some way, then they will be charged when you are approved for unemployment. This, of course, will cost them money, and they hate it, but they do not get ot say whether or not you are approved. But DO NOT quit the job now. Keep working till they tell you to go.

Thank You so much for explaining so well. I have one more question. should I apply for the positions when they are posted even if I know they will pay less than I,m making now? Will this matter for getting unemployment? To apply or not to apply that is the question? I can hang on and show up to work untill they tell me to go away,but I want to go straight down to unemployment.Just want to do every thing right .

It doesn't hurt to apply for the positions. You are not required to accept them (to remain eligible for UI purposes) if they offer an unrealistic cut in pay compared to what you make now. Not applying means you won't be considered which means you may be throwing away an opportunity to possibly negotiate for an acceptable wage (to you) in the new position.

It could hurt to not appy unless you can show the job is not an equivalent position to what you are being terminated from (as far as UI is concerned).


I have a problem with some of the other posters suggesting an employer basically fears having to pay the financial cost of an employee obtaining UI benefits. Many MANY simply don't give a damn, or even more likely, have figured that into the finacial equation already and simply consider it a cost of doing business.

In fact, in the business I work, employers actually prefer to lay off an employee over a termination for cause (unless the offense is extremely egregious). The issues associated with a term for cause are usually not worth the hassle so they prefer to give a rif (reduction in force) layoff. They have considers the UI costs and simply figured that into the cost of doing business.

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Quoting jk

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It could hurt to not appy unless you can show the job is not an equivalent position to what you are being terminated from (as far as UI is concerned).

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This isn't right. The employer cannot make you apply for anything. You as the claimant don't have to prove anything about an offer you never received. The employer may offer you a job without your applying, but that is the worst they can do to you. An employer saying, "we had many jobs available and the claimant didn't apply for a single one," is not disqualifying.

Thank You all for advice. I know what to do now. I will not apply for the new positions, because I was told what the salaries would be and they are all less than what I'm making. I will show up until they tell me they have filled the positions , then go to unemployment.

Actuslly you need to show up until they tell you not to show up anymore OR they attempt to place you in a position you are unwilling to accept.

Right. Keep going to work until you are actually told NOT to come back, that your particular job has been eliminated. Or they tell you that starting today, you will be working at this new position. Or you find out that they have significantly dropped your pay. Then you immediately leave the workplace, and go home and file for unemployment. Do not work a minute at the lesser position if you can possibly avoid doing so.

You DO NOT have to apply to work for less pay for the same employer. You don't even discuss it with the unemployment system worker. If you are going to do that, why not just take the darn new job for less pay and not make an issue or file a claim? Do not apply for any job you do not want and do not consider suitable or worth your time.

I collected employer taxes for unemployment system, and at least in the states and the area I dealt with, an employer's experience rating was determined by a lot of factors, including the type of employer, the nature of the work, and the frequency with which they had people drawing unemployment from them.

And I found very few employers who were not actively involved in keeping anyone and everyone from drawing benefits from them, which increased their tax rates in most cases, unless it was a genuine unavoidable reduction in force.

There were very few who would simply lay someone off when they didn't want them working there any more. Usually in the construction industry, where they paid the maximum rates anyway, this was more common practice. But most employers in my experience were very concerned with people being approved for unemployment after leaving, tended not to see it as cost vs.time and effort and more as an issue where a good HR would pursue and defend any action they'd taken.

A lot of franchise type businesses, including the big box stores and the chain fast food places hire consulting firms to manage their unemployment benefits, it's offered by corporate to every franchise, and their major activity is appealing any and all unemployment claims. I wouldn't count on this employer not objecting to your drawing benefits, it sounds more like they are trying to persuade you to quit or accept dramatic pay cut instead of firing you. But don't quit, and don't accept the pay cut IF you are sure you can find something else very soon that will pay what you can afford.

By the way, if you can't afford a pay cut, can you afford several weeks, five or six at least, without any income whatsoever? In the best case scenario, where you are approved to draw unemployment benefits, you are going to have to wait several weeks to be approved (if you are) and start getting unemployment checks. And the amount of these checks, when they do start coming, remember they will probably be much less than you were making at your regular work, (even if you are approved.) So consider this when deciding what to do. I agree with jk that negotiating with your present employer might be a better way to go than letting yourself be fired or quitting and trying to draw unemployment benefits while looking for another job. Why not look for the other job while still working, even at less pay?