Cessna172
05-17-2009, 09:43 PM
Hi--I have a twofold problem that I'm hoping I can find some help with. I worked until April as a full-time, salaried admin assistant for a financial planner. Early in March, she and I discussed me going part-time (20 hours a week, hourly pay) after the second payday in April, as she was having financial problems due to the drop in the stock markets. At that time, I decided that in the time I was not working, I would take college classes toward my degree.
On March 31, she called me into her office and told me that because of her financial problems, she would not be able to pay either me or the part-time office assistant anything at all --not one dollar-- on the next payroll (April 7), and would not have any money until either her husband's Social Security Disability payment came in, or May 7th (when she had a quarterly commission payment coming). This would be the third time in the 15 months I'd been working there that she had had trouble making payroll. The other two times she had asked me to accept a half-paycheck and she paid me the rest a week later. I was annoyed, but work isn't exactly easy to find around here, so I continued to work for her. When she told me that she wouldn't be able to pay us anything, I suggested that this might be the time to consider formally laying off K (the office assistant) and me, as it was unfair to expect us to work unpaid for her and not seek work elsewhere. She agreed to this. I worked a half-day the next day tidying up some loose ends, and then went home and filed for unemployment due to the layoff. It was approved and I have been receiving unemployment, seeking other work, and attending class part-time since. I have not yet been paid the money she owes me, even though May 7th was over a week ago.
Around the third week of April, she contacted me to ask if I was ready to be re-hired, on a part-time basis. I asked if she thought she could afford it and she said she believed she could. I asked her if that meant she had the money to pay the back pay I was owed and she said no, not until May 7th. I thought to myself, what nerve! asking me to come back to work when she couldn't even pay me for the work I'd done before, but just calmly told her that I was interested in re-hire when she could pay me and to call me to talk more about it after May 7th, when she could make the back pay. I talked to her again right around May 1st and it was essentially the same conversation all over again.
On May 13th, I finally gave up on waiting for her to "do the right thing" and filed a wage complaint on the Dept of Labor's website. Later that afternoon, in the mail, I received a certified letter from her dated May 5th stating that she had contacted me repeatedly to return to work and that I had refused to return to work in favor of attending classes, and that she "accepted [my] VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION as of April 24th". Then today, I got a notice from the DoL stating that she was contesting my unemployment! I filled out the attached questionnaire stating the whole saga and am taking it into the local unemployment office tomorrow, but in the meantime...can she do this? Please tell me they're not going to rule against me...how can she try to "recall" me to work if she's not even attempting to pay me for work I've already done?!?
On March 31, she called me into her office and told me that because of her financial problems, she would not be able to pay either me or the part-time office assistant anything at all --not one dollar-- on the next payroll (April 7), and would not have any money until either her husband's Social Security Disability payment came in, or May 7th (when she had a quarterly commission payment coming). This would be the third time in the 15 months I'd been working there that she had had trouble making payroll. The other two times she had asked me to accept a half-paycheck and she paid me the rest a week later. I was annoyed, but work isn't exactly easy to find around here, so I continued to work for her. When she told me that she wouldn't be able to pay us anything, I suggested that this might be the time to consider formally laying off K (the office assistant) and me, as it was unfair to expect us to work unpaid for her and not seek work elsewhere. She agreed to this. I worked a half-day the next day tidying up some loose ends, and then went home and filed for unemployment due to the layoff. It was approved and I have been receiving unemployment, seeking other work, and attending class part-time since. I have not yet been paid the money she owes me, even though May 7th was over a week ago.
Around the third week of April, she contacted me to ask if I was ready to be re-hired, on a part-time basis. I asked if she thought she could afford it and she said she believed she could. I asked her if that meant she had the money to pay the back pay I was owed and she said no, not until May 7th. I thought to myself, what nerve! asking me to come back to work when she couldn't even pay me for the work I'd done before, but just calmly told her that I was interested in re-hire when she could pay me and to call me to talk more about it after May 7th, when she could make the back pay. I talked to her again right around May 1st and it was essentially the same conversation all over again.
On May 13th, I finally gave up on waiting for her to "do the right thing" and filed a wage complaint on the Dept of Labor's website. Later that afternoon, in the mail, I received a certified letter from her dated May 5th stating that she had contacted me repeatedly to return to work and that I had refused to return to work in favor of attending classes, and that she "accepted [my] VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION as of April 24th". Then today, I got a notice from the DoL stating that she was contesting my unemployment! I filled out the attached questionnaire stating the whole saga and am taking it into the local unemployment office tomorrow, but in the meantime...can she do this? Please tell me they're not going to rule against me...how can she try to "recall" me to work if she's not even attempting to pay me for work I've already done?!?
