is this right?

[deebadee]

ok so here is my situation, i was demoted from being a supervisor in a call center to being an agent on the phone, they gave me the week off with pay to think about everything, I called the day i was told to call by to say i was comming back. so i went back on sunday and after being off the phones for a year i was haveing problems i did let my coach know i was struggling, but i took 1 hr and 20 min of break for the day, needless to say i know that much break is unexceptable, i work a 10 hr day and for that we are allowed 40 min and 1 hr lunch, so at the end of the day i was givin a verbal for my break usage, ok i understand i did wrong but at the same time couldnt my coach talk to me first and find out what was going on?? well i refused to sign it. I did not agree to it. The next day i get called into his bosses office and was told that the write up was going to stand. i told them that i understood it was going to stand but i still didnt agree with it and i still was not going to sign it. i then explained to him that he should have first talked to me about it and then proceeded with the write up, and on top of that he issued it to me while on the call center floor in front of other agents. again he said that it was going to stand. i let him know that was fine but i still was not going to sign. he let me go and i went back to my desk went on a 9 min break and came back and he pulled me back in the office, and told me here are your choices either you can resign or you can go on suspension with out pay, (mind you no time limit of when i was supposed to return) untill they get approval for seperation. i ask as to why and he told me that i knew why, again i asked why and he then said i was defrauding the company, mind you i have not been taken from salery to hrly. i have not signed any demotion papers or nothing. can they fire me for this???

[cbg]

You betcha they can. You don't get to decide how you get disciplined. There is nothing illegal about his failing to talk to you about it first. The law doesn't say he has to follow a particular progression of discipline. Besides, you've already said you knew you were wrong. What's there to talk about in that case?

Signing a write up does not mean you agree with it; it means you have been advised of the contents. Failure to sign can be considered insubordination if the employer wants to take it that way, and insubordination is, in itself, a termination offense.

So you're on dangerous ground from two directions.

[deebadee]

ok but at the same time can they fire me for defrauding the company when i am still slaray?

[cbg]

Certainly they can. How you are paid has nothing whatsoever to do with what you can be fired for.

[deebadee]

ok so if i do get fired will i be able to collect unimployment?

[cbg]

You can apply for unemployment. Whether or not you can collect is something only an adjudicator from your state can tell you.

Not knowing specifically what your employer thinks you've done or how much proof he has that you've done it makes it impossible for anyone here to judge the likelihood of your receiving it.

[deebadee]

so if it was decided that i am able to go back can i request that i get paid for the days i was suspended for? i was willing to work!

[Pattymd]

You can ask. They don't have to agree.