I work as a short order cook, and the restaurant i work at has recently received a new district manager. One of his first actions as the new manager were to remove certain members of the team from the work schedule without notice. It has been about a month since they were removed. They were never notified of a termination of employment or a lay-off. The employees in mention were previously working 20 hour weeks before the arrival of the new district manager. One of them being a personal friend of mine he is quite angry about the situation and feel as though it is their way of avoiding a formal termination as to avoid possible UI. I was just curious as to the fact, is this legal?

Also i have another question in regards to an employee whom is still on the schedule. He was scheduled for a 40 hour work week and within the week three days he was asked to stay late a minor amount of time by the shift leader. These times were around 20 minutes to a half an hour, all of this time was over-time. On the same week one of the employees had a fit and left two hours early for her shift. The employee previously mentioned had been asked by the shift leader to stay and help due to the the other employee's sudden departure, he stayed 2 hours until the closing of the restaurant. Upon receiving his paycheck he noticed that the 3 days he stay late along with the 2 hours had been removed from the system. The managers excuse being "Worked hours have to be approved, you cannot do whatever you please." Although being asked by the shift leader who has been verbally not officially designated so (we believe it is the managers' way of making it so when the shift leader says or does something they do not agree with they can negate his action due to the fact that he is not "official"). The employee in mention is quite upset about his 3 hours of unpaid time and does not know if he should pursue some from of recourse.

Any information about either topic would be greatly appreciated. I thank you in advance.

Yes, it is legal for them to remove him from the schedule without notification, but if the managers are under the impression that failure to notify him of a layoff or termination will disqualify him from unemployment they are doomed to disappointment. There is no requirement that he receive formal notice of layoff (or any other form of termination) before he can be found eligible for benefits. If he is not working, he can apply, and if the facts are as you describe them and there are no details of which you may be unaware that would disqualify him, he will likely be approved whether anyone has said to him, "You're fired/laid off/on a leave of absence/etc." or not.

Thank you for that information my friend will be ecstatic.