My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: MN
Hello,
I was recently involuntary terminated from a job on May 19th. When I asked my manager in person why I was fired I received the answer of "a couple policies were broken, I wasn't a good fit, and we hope that you find a place that makes you happy." When I e-mailed asking for a truthful reason, they said the reasons were company phone policy, call out policy, dress code policy, and proper work ethics policy were broken.
On May 8th, I tried to call into work to come in late and my manager, notified me that she had interviews that day, and couldn't accommodate, so I went into work. She called me into the office when I got there and informed me of the company policy which stated the company allows 3 call outs in a calendar year, unless provided a doctor's note, and said she was aware that majority of my call outs were because of me being ill. I told her I could have provided a doctors note had I known I needed them, but that if I were to call out sick again, I would be sure to get one for them. I also agreed to not call out again unless there was an emergency and did not break the policy after being aware.
May 7th, two weeks prior to my involuntary termination, my manager had a manager of a sister store come in to talk about the company and how I can improve. This was, as far as I know, not a warning, especially since it didn't come from my own manager. From what he made it sounds like It was just advice on how I can improve my sales and exceed in my personal career. He told me to wear a blazer and name tag, which are company policy, I was wearing a Colombia sweater, to keep warm as I work the front desk. Going forward, I wore a blazer with a name tag, but had the sweater on my lap to keep warm, and was never told this wasn't allowed.
I was notified of a new "no electronics" policy at the front desk in the beginning of May by my manager. I was told, by her that I could have my phone in the drawer at the desk and to look at it quickly if I needed to look at it. Although, I did look at my phone, I feel as though it never affected my customer service to our guests or getting my job tasks done. I know of two other co-workers, that were not terminated, that looked at their phones just as much, if not more, than I did, so I do not feel that I broke the policy, that she told me anymore than anyone else did. I also feel as though as if I had been provided the 15 minute break required by law, that was recorded by her that I received, but I never did, I could have used that time to take care of phone calls and emails.
After being notified of these policies, I was excited to start fresh and grow within the company. I felt confident in my ability to be the best employee possible, and my sales numbers and attitude showed that the week of May 12th-15th. I was completely shocked to come into work on Tuesday, May 19th, and be terminated from my job. I deserve to receive unemployment benefits because since, I was notified of these policies, I do not feel they were broken.
I was going to school move up in the company, which was the plan between the company and myself since January. I had another co-worker that was also working for the company that went to school to move up in the company as well. About a month before I was terminated I saw that my manager made a schedule for the future and my co-worker was on the schedule and I was not. I was also told by a co-worker that she was only hiring two people for this position. When I brought this up to my manager asking her if she still had plans for me to stay in the company, she said that she did. However, I felt like my termination was planned because she was only looking for two people and said she was hiring for this position. Meaning, my co-worker is one of them, and the person she hired would be the other. I do not feel that she had plans on me staying there, which is why I feel I was terminated. My manager also complained to other co-workers whenever I had a successful sales day, that she deserved the sales. I was top in sales and would had received the monthly bonus had I been there until the end of the month. I feel as though this also contributed to my termination, because that, then allows her to receive it being that she was second in sales. My manager was known for being dishonest, she would send people to do things, so that she could get a large sale, she would move appointments over to her friends so that they could make money, going against work policy. Although, I have no proof of this, this is another reason I do not trust her when she says these are the things that I was terminated for.
I applied for unemployment as soon as I was terminated, but I am almost positive that the company will try and fight this, and I may be denied. I didn't go into detail when filing for unemployment, so I feel like if I get to explain in this much detail, I may be approved. Do I have a case? What would be my chances of winning an appeal? Could I have one of my co-workers testify that she broke the phone policy and wasn't terminated? Would that make a difference?
Thanks in advance

