My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Maryland
I was terminated for a "no call no show" on Sunday, March 30th. Today I had my telephone interview with unemployment. According to unemployment my work reported me as quitting my job on the Saturday, the 29th (the day of my "no call no show").
Unemployment is calling back after she speaks with my former employer. Furthermore, my work was taking $25/week out of my paycheck for my FSA (flexible spending account). However, on my last paycheck they took out $75. Also, since they said that the last day I worked was on the 28th so now I'm thinking that I will not be paid for working on the 30th.
Is my previous employer allowed to take out an extra $50 out of my last paycheck and not pay me for the sunday that I worked? (I had maxed out my FSA months ago so I'm wondering if they were just trying to recoup the balance I owed them on my FSA by taking the extra $50 and keeping my last paycheck. I was under the impression that they would need authorization from me to change the amount they take out of my paycheck and that if I quit or was fired that it would be at their loss for what was prepaid into the FSA.)
Also, what are the chances of me getting unemployment since my employer told them that I had quit? Several co-workers can vouch that I was at work on Sunday as well as a number of regular customers. Several co-workers were also told by an assistant manager that i was fired.
below is my previous post for background info.
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I feel i was terminated for a different reason.
I work for a cafe in Maryland (baltimore county), on Friday 3/29 I called a co-worker at 3:30am and informed them that I was going to be late because I had to take my partner to the emergency room for a knee injury which occurred at work (we work for the same employer). My shift started at 5:30am and I was not able to come in until 9:15am. I called work several times to keep them updated of the situation and that I was going to be in later than I thought (there was a chance that my partner needed immediate surgery and wanted to know what was going to happen before proceeding to come in to work). When I finally came in, I handed the store manager a letter from the doctor excusing my partner from work until further notice. The next day I ended up missing work and failed to call due to oversleeping and not waking up until after the store was already closed. I had very little sleep the previous 2 nights due to what was going on at home with my partner.
2 weeks prior to this my department manager learned that I had a job offer from a customer who opened his own restaurant which is about 14 miles away from where i work now. I was confronted by my manager about this and I told him that I was not sure if i wanted to take the offer. Then last week I asked my manager about the possibility of switching part time because I wanted to start a 2nd job (but stated that it was an offer from a different person for a different type of job in hopes of avoiding any problems because the customer that offered me the job was a friend of my employer). I don't think my manager believed me in any case.
Then today when I came into work (after failing to call out yesterday) I believe my manager suspected that I may already be working for the other restaurant that made me an offer. I told him that I was going to work for someone else but only on a temporary basis and that I wanted to work part-time so that I could come back and keep my salary (we are paid time and a half of sundays...but recent new-hires are now only paid an additional $2 on sundays). So I asked him this morning if he thought it would be a good idea for me to ask a store manager about changing my availability to part-time or wait due to the fact that management may be upset with me because I missed work the day before and failed to call. I did explain to him (my dept manger) as well as with the asst store manager that I was unable to call because by the time I woke up the store was already closed...and that I had very little sleep in the past 2 days.
my department manager told me not to say anything now and that he would talk to upper management about it. Then at the end of my shift I was called to speak to the asst store manager. When i came into his office the first question i was asked was if it was true that i had another job. My response was that there was a chance that I may have another job but nothing was confirmed yet, and that I informed my manager about it because I did not want to quit my current job and wanted to continue working part time because the job offer was only temporary and that I was taking it purely for experience and not for a higher salary as well as having full intention to return after it was done. Then after I explained this I was then told that I was being fired due to failure to contact a manager regarding my absence...to which i explained that i was unable to call due to the store being closed.
I was told that it was not for that one incidence, but because I had missed work days in the past or have come in late as well. The reason i think it might not have to do with those previous incidences is the fact that they had happened so long ago and I had never missed a day of work without a doctors note, although there were 3 or 4 occasions that I came in late due to oversleeping. Also, the fact that I was first confronted with the question "is it true that you have found another job?" made me feel that the true reason was that my manager informed him of this.
I have yet to know whether or not I will be working at the new job...I will not find out until next week and there was still the question of benefits so I had not accepted, but i was just informing my department manager of the possibility.
Was I wrongfully terminated? I cant afford not to work, I live pay check to pay check and after meeting with a credit counselor a few weeks ago I am already constantly $500 short each month of what i need to make to pay my bills...I was going to file for bankruptcy.
Do I have a chance of getting unemployment insurance? I filed a claim online today, but I am nervous about not qualifying.
***********background info**********
I wanted to add some info in case it would make any difference. In the past I was asked to be the department manager, but I had turned it down because I was only offered $1 raise for taking on the manager position with significant amount of added responsibility. after declining the offer I was given the silent treatment by some of the upper management. After 3 months a new manager was hired which was then fired after 2 months. A few weeks later a new person was hired which I suspected was going to be our new manager. I decided to submit my resignation at that point. I was then offered the manager position a 2nd time by the owner...he had upper management make the offer to me in hopes of having me stay. However, management offered me only a $0.25 raise, so I declined and left after 2 weeks. After a month the owner insisted I come in for a meeting and offered me my job back with all the benefits because he wanted me back and that he received so many customer complaints about me not being there. I was already working at a new job (3 doors down) and was training to be a store manager, however I decided to return due to the better insurance benefits. I add this because I feel that they were happy with me as an employee and even asked me to return, but perhaps now they are upset because I was considering another job.

