Answers Posted By Francis Fanning

Answer to My right to used company policy to protect me was violated

It depends on what you mean by harrassment

Your question indicates that you complained of harassment. To determine if you have any recourse, it is important to know what kind of harassment you complained about. Sexual, racial, religious, age-based or disability based harassment violate the civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based upon sex, race, and so on. Under each of the federal and state civil rights laws you have the right to oppose discrimination (i.e. complain about it) without being punished. Your employer must allow you to make your complaint without following a particular "chain of command." On the other hand, generic harassment (the "I just don't like you" kind of treatment) is not unlawful, and when you complain about it, you run the risk of being punished. Company policies are not laws or binding promises in most cases, so the fact that the employer doesn't follow its own policy doesn't get you anywhere.
If your complaint was about unlawful discrimination, file a charge with the EEOC. If it was about generic harassment, you're probably out of luck.

posted Oct 20, 2003 2:54 PM [EST]

Answer to Do I have legal rights against a verbally and psychologically abusive boss?

Boss's abuse has crossed the line

The conduct you have described crosses the line between ordinary obnoxious behavior and wrongful conduct. There are three common law claims (called torts)that can be brought against this bully. The first, battery, is a claim for damages based upon an unwanted touching. Ordinarily this kind of claim involves something like a punch in the nose that causes physical injury, but any unwanted touching of your person constitutes battery. The second claim is for false imprisonment. When your boss blocks your path and prevents you from leaving, he has committed this tort unless he has a legal justification for restraining your freedom to leave (his desire to continue berating you is not a sufficient reason). Finally, the severity of his abusive conduct may well rise to the level of the tort of outrage, or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Usually the standard you have to meet to prove this claim is extremely high, since the conduct must be considered outrageous by the judge before the case can proceed to trial. The conduct you have described may very well meet this high standard, since it includes physical as well as verbal abuse, since it included restraining you from leaving and since he continued even after he had brought you to tears. I would recommend that you consult with a personal injury attorney about pursuing the claim.
Oh, by the way, I'm not sure why you believe you are under some compulsion to keep working for this jerk. Unless you have signed a contract that binds you for a specific period of time, you should be free to quit. And even if you signed a contract for six months or a year, his conduct seems extreme enough to justify your quitting. I wouldn't want to be his attorney trying to sue you for breach of contract.

posted Sep 18, 2003 11:19 AM [EST]

Answer to Retaliation after resignation announcement

Retaliation isn't always illegal

From your question is sounds like your employer clearly was/is upset at your resignation and has chosen to retaliate. However, there is no law prohibiting any form of retaliation by an employer. Certain laws, such as the Civil Rights Act and other similar laws, prohibit retaliation for protected activity, i.e. complaining about unlawful discrimination or participating in proceedings as a party or a witness to allegedly discriminatory practices. There is no anti-retaliation statute that protects against retaliation for announcing your resignation. Whether you have some due process right to challenge the retaliation depends upon factors that require a more detailed investigation of your job, your status with the university and other questions beyond the scope of this website.
As far as the "salary withhold formula" is concerned, I am not sure whether you are talking about federal and state tax withholding or something else. If the issue is tax withholding, you have lost nothing. You will get credit for the excess withholding when you file your tax return, and perhaps a hefty refund. While you have lost the use of the money for a few months, that isn't something significant enough to warrant a lawsuit or other legal action. If the "withholding" is some kind of salary reduction, you may have a possible claim for unpaid wages. Again, I would need more information to know how to advise you.
If it is important enough that you want to pursue it (and for most people $3,500.00 is nothing to sneeze at), I suggest that you consult with an employment lawyer.

posted Sep 14, 2003 6:59 PM [EST]

Answer to unemployment benefits eligibility

Unemployment scam should be appealed

You have the right to appeal from the adverse decision denying you benefits. In fact, from your description of the "interview" it sounds like you won benefits, the company appealed, and the "interview" was actually an appeal hearing. You can appeal further from that decision. You must follow the instructions and time limits given to you with the decision.
This sounds like a scam. If you were never told of the temp agency's part in the arrangement, it may have been to deprive you of unemployment benefits. You might want to go to the temp agency and ask for another placement. If they actually have jobs available for which you qualify, even a minimum wwage job will pay as much as or more than the amount of unemployment benefits. If they don't have any jobs available, you might possibly be able to ask the Dept. of Economic Security to reopen your case, although there isn't any provision in their rules that allows this. Appeals after the first hearing are generally limited to what is already in the record.

posted Sep 3, 2003 11:31 AM [EST]

Answer to I never signed a non-compete, but I still being sued.

Get a lawyer

If you have been served with a summons and complaint, you need to respond immediately. Regardless of the merits of the former employer's claim, if you don't defend it you will lose.
There are several things your lawyer will want to consider. If the former employer based its lawsuit on nothing more than a suspicion that you took a customer list, you may have grounds to recover attorney fees as a sanction for violation of Rule 11 (a rule that requires a party and its attorney to have a good faith belief in the merits of a claim after a reasonable investigation of the facts). You may also want to consider a counterclaim for interference with your current employment relationship, although it seems you haven't been damaged yet in that relationship. Understand that even if you and your current employer are on good terms, your legal position and the employer's are separate, and they may diverge as the case goes along. The company's attorney cannot be your attorney without risking a potential conflict that could disqualify him or her from representing either you or the company.
In order to fully evaluate your case, the lawyer you retain will want to see the letters and papers you have received, as well as any agreements you may have signed while working for your former employer (employee handbooks often have removable signature pages,and you may have signed one the day you started the job).
You should also be aware of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, which protects a company's proprietary information even without any signed non-disclosure agreement. Ask your lawyer about it.

posted Aug 21, 2003 2:13 PM [EST]

Answer to Bonus earned

Wages include anything agreed to be paid

Arizona law defines wages as "nondiscretionary compensation due an employee in return for labor or services rendered by an employee for which the employee has a reasonable expectation to be paid, whether determined by a time, task, piece, commission or other method of calculation. Wages include sick pay, vacation pay, severance pay, commissions, bonuses and other amounts promised when the employer has a policy or practice of making such payments." ARS �23-350. The employer's promise of a trip seems to fit the last part of this definition, although you might need to prove that the employer "made a practice" of giving such awards.
If you cannot convince the employer to pay you, you can either make a claim with the labor department of the Industrial Commission of Arizona, ARS �23-356, or file a lawsuit seeking three times the amount wrongfully withheld. ARS �23-355. Good luck.

posted Aug 11, 2003 4:05 PM [EST]

Answer to Non-compete: Who is the client?

non-compete requires careful reading

I cannot answer your question without reviewing the language of the non-compete (which sounds more like an anti-piracy agreement). Asking a lawyer to interpret a contract without reading it is like asking a doctor to diagnose your condition without going in for an examination. Whatever answer you get is likely to miss something that could be very important.

posted Aug 6, 2003 9:56 PM [EST]

Answer to wages and final pay

Final pay - three separate questions

Your question raises three separate and distinct questions with three answers.
When an employer fails to pay wages due, you can recover them in two ways. The labor Dept. of the Industrial Commission of Arizona has the authority to administratively handle wage claims of up to $2,500.00. If the amount due is more than that, or if you like lawsuits, you can file suit for three times the amount due. Whether you get the pay or not depends on the employer's reason for not paying you. Getting three times the amount due is not automatic, but is reserved for cases in which the employer has no good faith reason for not paying.
Unpaid overtime is a different matter, one that is covered by the Fair labor Standards Act. The U.S. Dept. of Labor, Wage & Hours Division, investigates claims of unpaid overtime, or you can file suit and seek twice the amount due.
The auto issue is more complicated. If the car belongs to you, the employer's taking of the vehicle constitutes theft ( a criminal act) and conversion (a civil cause of action for damages or return of the property). If the car belonged to the employer, you probably have no recourse. If the employer held a lien on the car but it was in your name, their action is governed by the laws governing repossession. There must be a default of some kind under the terms of the security agreement. This is an issue of commercial law, not employment law. You need to confer with an attorney regarding your options.

posted Jul 23, 2003 7:48 PM [EST]

Answer to Is it legal to accept a position in client's office, after signing a non-compete?

non-compete is really an anti-piracy agreement

The agreement you refer to as a non-compete provision is actually an anti-piracy agreement. It does not prevent your husband from competing, only from taking on clients of the employer. That is exactly what he proposes to do by going to work in-house for a client of the employer. It doesn't matter that the client no longer intends to continue with the employer. Unlike true non-compete agreements that are sometimes deemed unenforceable, anti-piracy agreements are generally upheld, since they protect legitimate employer interests without unduly limiting an employee's professional opportunities.
Going to work for the client is not illegal, it is merely a breach of contract. The worst that can happen is that your husband will be sued for breach of contract, enjoined from continuing to work for the client and ordered to pay damages and attorney fees to the former employer. The client may also be sued for interference with contract. Or the former employer may choose to do nothing, in which case nothing will happen.

posted Jul 17, 2003 2:43 PM [EST]

Answer to Is this a case of Retaliation?

It may be retaliation, but so what?

I cannot know for sure what motivated your employer to make your working conditions unbearable. Assuming it was your reporting of the HR manager (which you would have the burden of proving), this does not necessarily give you any legal recourse.
A "public policy wrongful discharge" occurs when an employer fires someone for reasons that violate public policy. Whistleblowing (at least in Arizona) is the reporting of unlawful conduct to either an appropriate representative of the employer or to a government agency that can deal with the reported conduct. Firing someone for "whistleblowing" is a form of wrongful discharge.
You reported what you describe as "unethical payroll issues." That doesn't tell me whether any illegal conduct was involved or whether the conduct was merely unseemly. Reporting conduct that may violate company standards but is not illegal does not involve any kind of public policy, and so it is not considered "whistleblowing."
Making an employee's job unbearable may amount to a constructive discharge, i.e. doing things so that the employee will quit is the same as firing the employee. The standard for proving constructive discharge is both an objective and subjective standard. A reasonable person in your situation would have to feel he or she has no alternative but to quit (the objective standard). You must actually quit to make it a constructive discharge (subjective standard). Adverse action by the employer, such as demotion, poor performance evaluation, denial of promotion, etc. are not enough to form the basis of a retaliation lawsuit unless they amount to a violation of a specific antiretaliation statute such as you will find in the various civil rights laws.
Although you may not have any legal recourse at this point, it might be worthwhile to talk to an attorney about the facts in greater detail. Perhaps a letter to your employer expressing your concerns might keep the problem from becoming one of wrongful discharge.

posted Jul 7, 2003 2:37 PM [EST]

Displaying answers 151 - 160 of 200 << Previous Page Next Page >>