DH fired due to family vacation

[Anonymous]

If he's fired for "cause," wouldn't that make him ineligible for unemployment benefits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he's fired for "cause," wouldn't that make him ineligible for unemployment benefits?

No...usually has to be "misconduct", the definition of which varies by state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did your husband get the approval to leave the trip early in writing? If so, his employer doesn't have a leg to stand on. Plus, if the vacation time had already been approved (again, in writing, on file with HR/etc) then the paper trail has been long established.

Unless he has an employment contract or union agreement that limits the grounds for firing, the employer doesn't need a reason to fire him. As my employment law professor used to say, "without a contract, you can be fired for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all."

Yes, but your reason cannot be a pretext for something else that's illegal (e.g. age discrimination, whistle blowing). Moreover, a good lawyer would argue the company didn't follow its usual policy and procedures with respect to paid time off/vacations.

There us no indication that this was a pretext for illegal discrimination based on membership in a protected class. Not following internal vacation procedures, while perhaps unfair, is not illegal. You can't sue for every unfair thing that happens to you.

Sorry, OP. I agree with others that it sounds like it would have happened for some other "reason" if not the vacation. Hope he finds something better soon.

I'm in the process of settling a decent chunk for discrimination- I can say that some items such as nepotism, recording working when on vacation etc. are company policies- not legal violations. So unfortunately, their violating company policy does not mean they violated an employment law. Does your DH work in VA, DC or MD? If in DC or MD you have a better chance on some better severance since apparently they require more notice. VA sucks for employees.

[Anonymous]

PP here with discrimination - the issues of company fraud (vacation when not working- rampant for men), and many other company violations I initially thought were whistle blowing when I brought this up to VPs .. regardless, the company had so many blatant, documented and verifiable discrimination violations against me and other women that they were just not willing to take a chance on a lawsuit or exposure. Hopefully your DH works in MD or Dc since if you research, there are procedures they have to follow prior to termination for whatever reason. I am not sure if your DH is in a protected class, but if you're in VA, at least you can consult an attny if his severance is not good- a letter (simple one- not a lengthy $$ demand letter) can help move this severance amount. My advice as well- stick to an attny in the state your DH works in and don't think the $350-400 lawyers are the best in any way shape or form. More $per hour in my experience has not meant better results or competency for that matter.

[Anonymous]

Very obviously this had nothing to do with the vacation.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like they were looking for a reason and either it was going to happen anyway no matter what DH did or it was the last straw. I would make sure DH keeps copies of reviews and the approval of vacation request, proof he went on the work trip etc. in case they try to deny unemployment. The fact they are saying "fired" and citing the vacation request as the reason as though he did something like not showing up to work would inspire me to make sure I had all relevant documentation.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

It is ugly, but it is done. Sorry. Has nothing to do with the vacation.

[Anonymous]

Are you positive he is telling you the whole story? It makes no sense and I wonder if he isn't telling the whole truth. Not saying he's a liar, but sometimes when folks are ashamed at being fired they will make stuff up to save face. Or I could be totally off base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you positive he is telling you the whole story? It makes no sense and I wonder if he isn't telling the whole truth. Not saying he's a liar, but sometimes when folks are ashamed at being fired they will make stuff up to save face. Or I could be totally off base.

This was my first thought as well.

[Anonymous]

So he was on a 5 day trip and they fired him on day 2? That is strange. I would think they would wait until he returned from the trip, even if they wanted to fire him before he left for a paid vacation. Even if the company decided to fire him on day two, I would have recommended that the company end his trip early so that he would be back in the office to be terminated the next day.

I think something else happened, like they suddenly wanted him to stay the entire week, the husband reminded his supervisor that he approved the husband's early return, the supervisor told his boss that the husband was refusing to stay the entire week and the supervisor's boss thought the husband was being I subordinate or a non-team player and fired him.

[Anonymous]

something else was up. might not have been your husband's fault.

odd that he was fired during a work trip, that seems like it'd open up all kinds of worms there.