Dirty Employer Tricks

Had you checked with the labor board in your state, you might have found resources to combat this.

I feel vindicated.

The company treated so many people so poorly it was a relief to hear they have lost their AT&T contract.

I know what you mean.. I like to read the FTC complaints and rulings about my last employer too.

Not proud it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling though:)

Yes. It was Barnett associates.

Just another cost control company.

Are you sure that NY law firm wasn’t Barnett & Assoc., an unemployment cost control company, out of Syracuse, NY .. I think?

I worked for a company called Pinnacle Technical Resources in Dallas, TX. They had a major contract with AT&T where we would provide support to Uverse Customers. We started out at $17 an hour until the company decided they wanted to suddenly replace us with $11 dollar an hour workers so they devised a sophisticated scheme to fire all of us. They suddenly made it impossible to meet our metrics and this terminated some people. We could not have but so many callbacks within a 48 hour period but the company suddenly placed all of us in what was known as the “Frequent Call Que” where we deàlt with executive level customers who called in several times a week which ensured we wouldn’t meet that metric. These were calls which were previously handled by AT&T’s own engineers and even the engineers couldn’t believe these mgmt level calls were coming to us. This pretty much ensured we would get callbacks because we were limited in what we could do.

Then the company’s management started sending out erroneous instructions on various work scenarios they knew we would encounter. AT&T had a “no print” policy and all correspondence had to stay in the computer. So we couldn’t print this info. When we would follow the instructions managers would conveniently terminate people. Even when agents showed them where they gave the instructions they didn’t care.

Then right before a major dropout in work, the hr office at Pinnacle technical resources have their managers instructions to find reasons to terminate people. They suddenly Å¡arted walking out several people a day for bullshit, frivolous reasons. People who had never been late before, who were also long time associates, suddenly found themselves fired for being one minute late. The managers even went back weeks to find the tardy to justify firing the person.

Managers started going back months going trough dozens of calls to find one mistake on a call, even forefinger to repeat a callback number, to terminate people. Again, people who had flawless employment records.

The company suddenly terminated over 70% of its workforce and hired a law firm out of New York to fight the unemployment claims of every single person. Many if us had worked hard for the company often staying late and we suddenly found ourselves having to fight for unemployment.

Fortunately the unemployment office saw the number of new claimants all from the same company and paid the claims anyway. Thank God.

Texas has a lot of new startups and many of these business people are ultra evil, cutthroat and money hungry. They will tell any lie, undercut anyone, to keep their costs low.

Employees need to especially be vigilant in this state.

Texas needs to change the laws as there are so many evil and dishonest employers here. We all need to fight harder to get things changed as employers use us, pile so much work on us that we have to work late hours and weekends but we are salary so we just either don’t get the work done or we don’t have a life. Texas may have created more jobs but low pay and horrible employers. Stay out of the HOA industry. There are a couple of companies in that industry that are just evil. Eventually everyone will stop going to work for them because word gets out and enough clients will fire them but that takes a while and many people get treated horribly in the meantime. Get out of Texas until they change the laws and stop abusing employees.

Sorry to be dense, but what’s the HOA industry?

Chris

I was fired by my employer, in the state of Texas, for failing to pass the TABC test (required for establishments that sell aclcohol). In the state of Texas, this is categorized as “misconduct.” I have worked for this employer for eight years and passed the test each and every time, except for this one. I do not believe that I failed the test, but my employer, and the state of Texas, refused to show me my results. It just so happened that I was fired when my employer hired a new manager and I was due for a raise. Both of my appeals were denied and I am preparing for my third appeal. I cannot afford an attorney to help me through this process. In my appeal I challenged the application of misconduct and cited relevant, precedent cases…to no avail. I am lost and would appreciate any advise, from anybody.

Hi,

A third appeal would be a court appeal .. would it not?

Since you cited relevant precedents and you can’t afford an attorney .. it should be evident to you that if anyone were to be able to help .. they would want to first know something about your case thus far .. such as what the decisions stated and a transcript or recording of the lower level appeal hearing to find out what went wrong .. wouldn’t you agree?

It too late for general information that might help ..

I think I know the reasoning used to deny you at hearing and then again at the board level .. but it’s all just assumption on my part based on the very little you did include.

Now, if you told everyone on what basis you challenged the application of misconduct and what relevant precedents you used, that might be helpful.

Chris

I originally applied for benefits when my hours were reduced. The determination letter stated that I was ineligible because I was still employed. I appealed that decision stating that my hours were reduced from 40 hours to 10 hours per week. Again I was denied and was given the same response. After my hours were reduced to 4 hours per week, I quit employment with the company. I reapplied for benefits after I quit and was denied. The reason was that I quit when the option of remaining employed existed, therefore I was ineligible due to creating my own unemployment. I appealed this decision 2 times and then had a hearing on the matter in court. Again, I was denied by the courts. My attorney told me that this is common practice in Ohio for employers to use this tactic to get out of unemployment claims.

Well Justin, if this is true .. that a 75 percent reduction in hours is not enough to collect partial unemployment .. and that a further reduction amounting to a 90 percent reduction is not good cause to quit .. I believe this would make Ohio unique.

I would like to ask anyone located in Ohio if they have had the same experience.

Because this would seem to fly in the face of the federal guidelines simply because it’s contrary to the purpose of unemployment.

Chris,
Maybe I wasn’t wording my response clearly when I last replied. I was trying to say that in Ohio a worker must be completely unemployed to begin eligibility for unemployment compensation. If an employer cuts your hours back, that alone does not qualify you for benefit eligibility. Please check out this online guide for Ohio UI:

http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/forms/file.asp?id=55028

Go to page 8 of the PDF file and the first requirement under Establishing Eligibility is that you must be unemployed at the time of filing. Being partially unemployed at the time of the initial apllication will result in the application being denied. Employers take advantage of this and simply cut people’s hours back until they quit. AFTER you have established eligibility you can be paid for partial weeks if you work part-time during a claimed week. However, you must be completely unemployed through no fault of your own to be eligible when you initially file.

Justin Bennett

Justin,

You worded it just fine, but I’m curious now.

Did you even bother to read Table 3-8 in the link I provided? That is the information provided by the United States Department of Labor and Partial benefits in Ohio are defined in that table.

If Ohio denied your claim for partial benefits .. you should have appealed. Did you?

I cannot do anything about the fact that Ohio doesn’t openly say that a reduction in hour may entitle you to partial benefits, but according to the USDOL it should.

Another possibility is that Ohio has some very tough monetary qualifying requirements.

In Ohio people are not eligible for partial unemployment. You must be completely unemployed to be eligible for benefits. And you must be unemployed through no fault of your own. If you quit, it must be for just cause. And if you quit when the option of remaining employed existed, even if it is 1 hour a week, you are considered to have created your own unemployment. So dirty employers in Ohio take advantage of that “loophole” and simply keep cutting the hours of employees back until they quit. Ohio really needs to change its unemployment law to allow people to claim partial unemployment like other states do. That would end this problem in Ohio.

Justin,

That is incorrect. Ohio does allow partial unemployment benefits
(See Table 3-8). They may just have tough elements to meet in order to be eligible for partials.

Chris

Hi Anonymous commenter:)

Very succinct and to the point .. not one of my long suits!!

Hi Justin,

After reading the stories on this website, I just know that the advice that is given from Chris is always don’t quit, but file for partial unemployment when your hours get cut. Try not to take drastic measures before you research your rights & how things will effect you. It may depend on the state you live in too but from what I’ve read on this site it may go the same for across the board. Sorry to hear about that happening to you. Employers are dirty and will do whatever they can to get out of paying benefits so you/we have to protect ourselves the best way possible. As I mentioned, I have learned so much from Chris about unemployment, that I never knew before. This just means that a better job awaits you. Good luck to you!