I Quit Due to an Evil Boss in Tennessee and Was Denied

by Done Very Dirty

(Tennessee)

Hi! I hope you can help.. I wish I would’ve discovered this page sooner!! My case is in Tennessee.

Ok, so I worked at a healthcare company for 6 years with zero issues. No verbal warning, no write ups, and excellent evaluations. Until.. our manager quit. Then we had no manager for over a year and I stepped up and did the duties. When we did get a new manager, she was the daughter of a manager of 3 other offices. Well she knew nothing when she came there and I helped her ALOT! All of the sudden after less than a year, she was “furloughed”. Whole other story behind that.

Anyway.. then her mother became our manager. Almost immediately she began asking why I was doing this and that, being management duties. Well, I said, because it needed to be done.( A little background here is probably needed.. i was hired as a certified medical assistant and when the Dr I was working with quit, I was offered, and accepted, a position in the front office so I would have a job. After being in this new position, I did not renew and take my recertification exam.. there was no need.) This new manager TOLD me I needed to take the exam (even tho I hadn’t been working with patients for almost 3 years). I explained that I couldn’t afford it at that time because my daughter and granddaughter had moved in with us. She told me that I “needed to let some bills go” and take the exam. Well, in the meantime my mother sold her house for cash and offered to pay for the testing. When I went to work and told the manager, she said ,no. Then all of the sudden I hear from other employees that I am being transferred to another office. So i asked. And was told that my position was being eliminated. Even after saying I could take the exam. She said she didn’t think that I could “physically” do the nursing part anymore. I had had partial knee replacement 2 or 3 years earlier. I offered to stay on a trial basis. Again. No. I attempted to contact HR.. NO RESPONSE. She and the HR person were friends. Imagine that. So I contact an atty. He said they can transfer me as long as my pay/hours aren’t cut and it’s not further of a commute. At this point I had no choice but to transfer. So I go to the other office thinking it is a permanent position. It’s not. After 2 weeks I’m told that I will be rotating to different offices at 60 day intervals. Wow! So then, the manager catches me in the hall and asks if I wanted to work at her office, a few floors down, instead of rotating. Well I accepted so I would have a stable place. Big mistake. I was treated like dirt. I could not take a day off because the other person I worked with needed it. Oh, they were BFF’s outside of work. Like church picnics, shopping together, etc. That’s fine. Don’t bring it to the office. Fair is fair. I was too often left alone in the front office to answer phones, check people in and out, verify insurance, etc for 2 doctors. Then told not to put people on hold on the phone! Then she brings another person, from another office she manages and secretly asked her if she wanted to work there full time. We were fully staffed. The girl told me.. just for a heads up. Then I was to be transferred to another office, supposedly, closer to home. Interview and all.. then that was shut down. Then I got violently ill and called in one day. Second day I was still sick and was made to come in because her friend had an appt. Laying my head on the desk, fever, nausea, etc. Third day, I called in and went to urgent care. Still with fever, dehydrated and nausea. Given meds and a Dr. Note. A coworker called to check on me and told me I was being transferred.. again. Only this time to an office 20 more minutes further. I was done. I wrote my resignation. After returning to work, I was waiting until the end of the day to turn it in. Well, she and her boss, who is new, call me into the office. She tells me I am being transferred.. again. And tells me where. Then tried to tell me shes writing me up for being out. A corrective action!! Which meant I could not sneeze sideways or I’d be fired. After never having had so much as a verbal warning!! How is that possible? Isn’t there a protocol? So handed her my resignation. Then she says I can work out my notice at the office that is an hour or more from home. No. I am mentally exhausted from all this. I went home, cried and let her know I wasn’t coming back. This is just the tip of the iceberg! So much more to the story.

I filed for unemployment a week or so later. December 11,2016. They denied it in February, but only after I called 10 times for saying I didn’t earn enough.. then they said that was a mistake but still denied. I appealed.

Employer didn’t call in for the hearing. The only notes they sent just stated that I quit and was a no rehire. So again, Denied. Lady didn’t hear half of what I said and her written notes were completely wrong. Even as far as saying I only worked there for several months.

She said I quit to keep from being reprimanded. Not true at all.

So I have appealed again. The office of administrative review scheduled a hearing on June 15.

My question is,should I just give up?

I never would have quit. I would have retired there. But I was getting no help from HR or any other upper management. This lady is just evil. I didn’t do anything wrong. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you can answer soon!

Done Very Dirty .. By the State of Tennessee if You Ask Me

Hi, I’ve got a couple questions.

Over what length of time did all these changes occur beginning being when the mother manager took over?

And putting the fact I don’t doubt you when you say this woman was evil, while reading your story, I kept wishing I knew what was in your resignation letter, you did quit and weren’t fired, but that clearly means to me, the burden to prove good cause attributable to the employer was on your shoulders, from the moment you applied for benefits. And, if I’ve said it once, I’ve said a thousands time .. a resignation letter is actually a document. Therefore, if one is going to quit with good cause, why not use that resignation letter to lay out the argument for good cause .. before quitting.

If you can help me with some answers to the questions above, I’ll respond. I also clearly need to check in on TN Board of Review procedures. I’m forced to because I don’t recall TN conducting board hearings, which to me means they may accept either oral or written arguments for appeals based upon the record of the lower level tribunal hearing.

As for your question, Should I just give up? I can’t say what you should do .. because I don’t know what the hearing officer might of done wrong while conducting your hearing, but I’m having a hard time believing if she heard all the crap this employer did to you (she was trying to get you to quit) the ruling was a voluntary quit to avoid being fired .. for something arguably not misconduct.

If it were me though .. I’d go down fighting, even if I crashed and burned, but then again .. I’d of had documents to prove everything I thought I would need to .. from the gitgo.

I’m waiting …..