I have been working 4 years with the same company. Business has been getting slower and slower during all of 2006. I was suspended for 30 days for an attendance conflict. The suspension was only verbal, I did not sign anything nor was I given any paperwork. When the 30 days was up, I talked to my boss via email and received this response.

"I will email you as soon as we get some work."

The reason I am posting, after reading most of the Michigan threads, is because I am interested in applying for unemployment. It seems that my suspension has turned into a lay-off. With no paperwork being done, do I have any rights?

There is no requirement that there be any paperwork officially laying you off, or, for that matter, suspending you.

Go ahead and apply.

Thank you for the quick reply. I will do what you suggest and hope for the best.

Maybe I am wrong, but, doesn't the employer have to pay you if you are suspended for mor than 7 days?

You are wrong.

I thought that you could not suspend a person without firing them for disciplinary reasons.

I don't know what gave you that idea but it's mistaken as well.

cbg-This has certainly intrigued me. I work in the restaurant business. My company is constantly preaching to us that you can not suspend a person for disciplinary reasons. If you suspend someone and then not teminate them you have to pay the person for the time you suspended them. You are saying this is not true. Can you point me in the direction of where I can read more about this issue. Thank you

cbg-This has certainly intrigued me. I work in the restaurant business. My company is constantly preaching to us that you can not suspend a person for disciplinary reasons. If you suspend someone and then not teminate them you have to pay the person for the time you suspended them. You are saying this is not true. Can you point me in the direction of where I can read more about this issue. Thank you

It just might be your restaurants personal policies, but not law, sorry.

I think your confused with your 1st weeks pay being held,then getting suspended,it seems like your being paid but actually pay is a week behind.
JoeC

T-bone; if your company is telling you that this is law, they are wrong. It may be their company policy, but it is not law.

A non-exempt employee can be suspended, with or without pay, for any reason the employer chooses, including the fact that the employee wore blue socks today and the employer doesn't like blue socks. The suspension can be for any length of time the employer chooses, including indefinitely. This is true because no law prohibits it. I can't point you in the direction of a law that doesn't exist. What is more to the point is that your employer cannot point you in the direction of a law that backs up what they say, since no such law exists.

An exempt employee can be suspended for any reason the employer chooses, including the rather ridiculous one above, but a suspension of less than a work week can only be an unpaid suspension if it is EITHER for a major safety violation OR a violation of a written company policy that applies to all employees and relates to workplace conduct (violence in the workplace, sexual harassment, drugs/alcohol in the workplace etc.). Again the suspension can be for any length of time, including indefinitely, but if the exempt employee worked for any part of the first week of the suspension AND the suspension is for any reason other than the two just listed, they must receive their full pay for that week. Any subsequent workweek in which they do NO work at all during the week can be unpaid. This is covered under the Fair Pay Act which was implemented in August of 2004.

Your employer is either outlining their company policies, or else they are flat-out wrong.