Explaining Why I Left A2K for Awhile

I guess I should not be surprised but now they are trying to keep me from being able to collect Unemployment Benefits. The Plant Manager told me, and yes, I have it recorded, he told the last girl he fired they were doing away with her job so she could collect unemployment instead of telling her she screwed up the inventory costing them tens of thousands of dollars. One more time I am getting treated differently. I am no longer depressed or sad. I am downright ticked off. I have a call into the attorney to get this suit underway. Now, let them tell me again, "You are the Christian so you have to take the high road or I'm just the flavor of the month or laugh in my face because I wanted to pray about something! This is a wrong I refuse to let go on.

Maybe, in order to get a viable, legally recognized cause of action
against ex-employer: allege that thay discriminated against u based on religion.





David

Actually, that is what it is going to be based on. Once I told the attorney I got laughed at because I wanted to pray and I was told "you're the Christian YOU have to take the high road" it gave me plenty of grounds for the suit. Personally, I hate to think that is what it was about but the attorney said my religion should NEVER even have been mentioned.

It does seem like they've taken advantage of your Christian beliefs.

Let your inner redhead show them who the good person is!

As long as that woman and her daughter are never allowed to do this to anyone in the future, I will be happy.

I love your avatar!

She (the avatar) is fun isn't she.

I made her at http://www.amctv.com/madmenyourself/ . I don't watch the show, but I am crazy for the avatars you can make there. It's like playing paper dolls

this one is for you, my dear

Oh my goodness! I laughed so hard I nearly choked. What a hoot!!!!!!!!!!

I just got done writing a letter to the Louisiana Workforce Commission. I received notification of how much I would receive for unemployment IF I qualify. They wanted a brief explanation of why I was fired.

I told them I couldn't give them a brief explanation but I explained it all to them. I am really ticked off. No one ever said we could not get on the internet and listen to things while we worked. Jessica always had a radio station up on hers, some read books and others played games when they weren't busy. Also, if it was a bloody problem all they had to do was tell me and I would not ever done it again. But, I know it was just an excuse for them to fire me.

I did not sleep at all last night. I keep running everything through my head thinking I seriously must be missing something here because HOW CAN THIS BE HAPPENING? IT'S 2011!

Oh, and fortunately, I was able to find my checkstub for the week of Good Friday where I worked that day and didn't clock in. Gotten written up for it. LOL. I told them to pay me for Saturday instead of Friday so they didn't have to pay me double-time holiday pay. Sure enough, they only paid me time and a half.

I'm gearing up for war here!

Arella Mae, try to stop reliving and re-hashing it all in your head--at least when you get into bed at night. You need your sleep, and without it you'll feel more stressed.
When you get into bed, try using visual imagery to help you relax and focus on something pleasant. Imagine you are in the most relaxing situation you can think of--on an isolated beautiful beach, riding one of your horses along the shoreline, for instance. Really put yourself into the situation--smell the ocean, feel the horse under you, feel the air against your skin, just as if you were really there, and enjoy your ride and noticing the things around you.
The situation can be anything you find pleasant and relaxing. Sometimes I imagine I am swimming underwater in a tropical sea (something I have never done in real life) and I can feel the soothing pressure of the water as I swim and admire all the unusually colored and patterned fish that swim by me and the sea-life around me. It's a lot better, for me, than counting sheep. But, even counting sheep helps to focus your mind on something other than troublesome thoughts. Give it a try.



That alone should indicate you were fired for an arbitrary and unfair reason.

If your employer provides you with a computer with internet access, but does not provide you with a written statement spelling out permissible internet use--that would apply to all employees holding similar positions--they cannot fire you for violating a company policy that either does not exist, or of which you were never informed. And, as you point out, they could have told you, or sent you an e-mail, telling you to curb or stop your internet use if it was problematic or not allowed, but they didn't do that either.

So, I think that for them to point to your internet use as a reason to fire you, constitutes unfair grounds for dismissal, and it should provide more ammo for your legal case.

YOU GO GIRL!

I know it was trumped up. I have been doing that since I have been working there. They cannot tell me that they are just now figuring it out. If that were true, they'd need to fire their IT team. They wanted to get rid of me because I wouldn't shut up. I wouldn't "take the high road" and let that woman harass me and I'm sure they got tired of it.

Funny, one of the things the Plant Manager told me is Philippe, the owner of the company, hates turmoil. Well, he needs to fasten his seatbelt because I am afraid this lawsuit is going to cause a lot of turmoil.

I need a new audio book to listen to. They usually keep my mind focused on that so I can sleep. I will find a good book today.

Actually this is not true! As employer you don't need to spell out what
employees can or cannot do, it's implied that you are in a work situation and should not use the internet for private surfing, dto. for radio, tv, reading books, etc. etc. It is understood that if you enter a working relationship with your employer - with or without contract - that you use
your working hours for just that - working!

Regardless Arella Mae, you will receive unemployment compensation
on your former employers account. I've terminated employees who deliberately wanted to get on unemployment, came late, used the internet privately, forgot many tasks assigned to them, even wrote it on their facebook status that they're working towards getting fired, and in the end
they still got unemployment benefits paid.

That is California for ya, but not all states are like that, some have standards that need to be met in order to get unemployment.

Same principle applies in NM, so maybe it's more or less universal. Here, you can be fired for insubordination and maybe - just maybe, for serious safety violations. Not much else can justify a loss of compensation, though the employer and employee may have to go through an arbitration hearing.

I haven't been officially employed by other than myself in near forever, and even when I was employed in the med world, there were times when our lab people broke their necks working and times to show another person (like me) how to play chess or for the boss and the rest of us to tell stories. Time for buckling down and time for laughter. I think different workplaces have different atmospheres. The last lab I worked in wasn't like that - I fixed 'em good, I changed careers.

Anyway, Arella, cover this territory with your attorney.

I hope you are right Calamity Jane. Not having unemployment benefits would really not be helpful right now.

I have an appointment at 9:00am with the Labor Attorney. I looked him up on the Internet and he seems to be quite the defender of the underdogs; i.e, AIDS Victims, the Elderly, those discriminated against.

Johnny said Tommy, the attorney we have already seen said, "This is the guy for you." Johnny said Tommy has a great deal of respect for this attorney. Tommy used to be the prosecutor here.

I will let everyone know how it goes tomorrow.

Yes, don't worry Arella, you will receive your unemployment benefits and in your case, you definitely deserve them. Just relax!

I have never worked anywhere where I did not have a radio on in my office--I like to listen to classical music and I work better with music in the background, particularly if I have to think something through, or if I have to write something. If I had to meet with someone in my office, I turned the radio down. No one ever said anything to me about the radio.
I never worked anywhere where people couldn't read a book or a newspaper if they had some downtime--either during a period where they didn't have some work that needed to be done, or during a period where no work could be done, or during what could be considered a coffee break or a lunch hour.

Maybe it depends on what type of job you have, or the specific work environment you are in, but, as long as the job gets done, and all your assigned work gets completed in a timely and satisfactory manner, I think one can use one's "free time" at work to read, or chat with co-workers, or listen to music, or have a cup of coffee or a snack, or send text messages, or do a crossword puzzle, or anything else one felt like doing.

In an office I worked in recently, the receptionist was told she had to decrease her personal time on the internet because it was excessive, and it really was, and it did interfere with doing her job. Since my work there didn't involve computer use, I have no idea what the policy, if any, was regarding personal use of the internet, but they clearly didn't object to people going on-line for some periods of time, and everyone else who worked there went on-line to do things like check their personal e-mail, or look something up, or play a fast game. And, they didn't fire this woman, they told her to decrease her time on-line, and she did. And I've been an administrator with hiring and firing powers, and I'd never fire someone for something, like internet use, or anything else, without first warning them about it and giving them a chance to correct the situation.

I hope it goes well tomorrow, Arella Mae.

wow, I guess some companies don't mind, others do!
You like classical music, your co-workers might not and have to listen to yours or vice versa you'd have to listen to rap music from your co-workers. Where does it end?

I am sorry, there is always something to do in an office setting, if employees have time to read a book or the newspaper, I'd send them home - no need for me to pay them for reading a book.

As for internet time and personal computer usage, I don't like to spy on employees or check up on them if they use too much time on facebook or someplace else, we simply blocked their private use and that's the end of it.

You cannot find a middle ground on internet use - some employees are responsible and limit their usage to the minimum, others take advantage of it and hang on the internet all day long. If you allow A to use it, you have to allow B the same and so on....it's contra productive no matter how you see it. Blocking certain websites is the only solution in my book (no pun intended)