What I mean by my title is where, instead of the employer explicitly telling an employee that their services are no longer required, the employer instead simply never tells (calls) the employee what their upcoming/regular schedule is. Since no schedule exists, no job exists for that person, even tho they haven’t been “officially” laid off.
Why might an employer do this?
Or they move him/her to the basement. Just don’t try to take their red Swingline stapler…
I would guess to avoids an unemployment claim if they fire someone.
Although it’s possible, depending on the state, that someone quitting because of no hours might still get unemployment.
Wow. That would be pretty unethical, don’t you think?
This is done so when the employee files for unemployment, the employer can lie and say they did in fact call the employee and the employee resigned, therefore is not entitled to unemployment for an unjust termination.
Some states have what are known as “Service letter” laws. If an employee requests per the statute the reason why they were terminated, the employer must respond. I think all states should have these, it would cut out any lies told to the employee then a different story to the unemployment board and or an ANSWER to a lawsuit.
It should not keep the employee from getting UE. If have no hours one week then file on Friday. That becomes you waiting week. If the next week you lhave no hours then you are intitled to UE. If the employeer lies then go to the labor commissioner. You can be laid off with out being terminated.
He thinks he’s being clever and that you will quit. You need to document everything that is going on, as you may have a case for what is called “constructive termination”, wherein you are denied the right to perform your normal duties, which in turn pressures you to resign. In that case, you can absolutely draw UI. Once you have some documentation, you can resign and then present your information to the unemployment folks, who will make a determination of eligibility. Or you can just hang on doing nothing until your employer is forced to fire you.
Here’s it’s called ‘constructive dismissal’ and it’s just as actionable as if they fired you for no cause.
I worked a retail job that would do that. They would “punish” workers who dared to ask not be scheduled on Tuesday AM so that they could go to the doctor’s office (or whatever) by not scheduling them for the next week. It’s a tool of the disposable workforce economy- keep their hours unpredictable and difficult and they won’t fight for their job when you want to discard them.
Closed at the request of the OP.
samclem, moderator