by Anonymous
I am a manager. I have been working no less than 16 hours a day for the last year and a half. I have worked many 6 and 7 day weeks. Surpassing 100 hours in a week is not unheard of. I recently got very sick due to all the stress and hours I put in. My doctor put me on two weeks medical leave. He wanted to give me 6 weeks but I told him they would let me go if I was gone for that long. Since returning to work 3 weeks ago it has been hell. They have changed my schedule 5 times, they have changed my role, they have taken me out of my office and put me in a cubicle with the admins. I feel like they are trying to make me quit. After no write ups in my first 15 months with the company I have been written up 5 times in 3 weeks since returning. If I quit because I can’t take this anymore can I get unemployment.
Hi Anonymous,
I think you need to go back to the doctor. If you were sick enough for a doctor to suggest 6 weeks off I’d like to know why you didn’t request FML or at least a personal leave if FML isn’t a possibility. Do you have short term disability?
Maybe the company has now recognized they’ve burnt you out? Sounds to me like they are setting you up to either get you to quit or fire you for cause because they now see you as a liability to their interests.
What have you done as far as trying to correct the situation at work? This is the step most people fail to take and it stops them from getting unemployment because the employer says: “the claimant never told us there was a problem….not our fault….he never gave us a chance to try to find a solution.”
You need to respond to the employer in writing. It should address the concerns you have with your treatment since returning to work.
And maybe you should take a look at this page about why exercising employee rights is really important before you choose to end a job thinking you will simply be believed to prove good cause to collect benefits without actual proof of your efforts to correct the egregious retaliatory and illegal behavior you’re claiming your employer expects you to work under.
100 hours a week? Really? I don’t think this would fly as reasonable .. even if you are a salaried employee and in fact if you are a non-exempt employee .. pretty sure it’s not even legal in most states.
I need a catchy slogan for how to quit a job, or why not to quit one.
Or at least one that makes folks understand you actually work on proving the burden of quitting while you’re employed, not after you apply for unemployment benefits.