Employment Law - Pennsylvania

Resigned and would like to be rehired

AnthonyinPA — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:48 GMT

I resigned from a company on 7/31/09. The position has not been restaffed. Today is 11/20/09. I have called the HR department several times over the last two weeks. I left three messages...one every 4 days. No one has returned my call. I left the company on good terms. During my exit interview, I was told I "always have a home" at the company. I don't understand why no one is returning my calls. Then, I wondered, are they ignoring my calls for a reason? Is there a law that states they must hire me back? Thank you for your help!

overtime and the 8/80 rule

utta — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:53:10 GMT

I am having difficulty understanding this rule as it pertains to the 8 hours daily. I totally understand the 80 hour rule of actually worked time and do not have a problem with this. So if I have a vacation or sick day, it is time not actually worked. I get that.

I work at a nursing home and there are many different shifts. I work the midnight to 8 a.m. shift.

I have been told that my "day" is from midnight to midnight. So if I am off midnight to 8 a.m. on Monday, come in and work an hour Monday afternoon and then come in to work midnight to 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the hour on Monday afternoon is straight time.

This is not a big deal, I am just trying to understand the over 8 hour rule. Would this mean that each employee has a different "day" depending on their set schedules?

The 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. would be 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. and the afternnon staff 4 p.m. to 4 p.m.? What about staff that has no set schedule and have a flexible work schedule?

I am just trying to understand the rule and when I ask at work they tend to get impatient with me.

Thanks!

Termination for arrest

chil56 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:42:05 GMT

I was employed for a large hotel chain as a maintenance worker for over a year. I was just recently arrested for a crime that happened 1 1/2 years ago, the arrest was a felony. When my employer found out I was immediately put on unpaid leave which means no pay or benenfits, since my wife is disabled and we take care of my 86 year old mother this is a catasthrophe. Isn't there a law in Pa that you can't discriminate because of criminal records except for the nursing home/hospital fields? I have not been convicted just arrested. There is a good chance that all charges will be dropped if I testify against several others. The company already has my job posted.

garnishment of wages

cobyroby — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:33:43 GMT

my employer was to garnish my wages in feb of 09 for back school taxes that we thought we payed they had 60 days to do so and did not making them liable for the amount of tax and a late fee...they still garnished my wages in nov 09 because they said they did not get the first letter in feb..stating that it was not sent registered mail and they did not get it...am i still liable to pay the back tax..i work in pa and my employers corporate office is in louisianna

Docking Pay

rtulaney — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:43:00 GMT

My employer informed me today that they are going to dock my pay $250 due to an order that I placed back in September. The order was entered by a sales rep and the way our system works whatever information the sales rep enters is pulled into the Purchase Order. I work in Finance and place all orders, the wrong color choice was entered by the sales rep and the client refused the order. Now my employer said they are docking his pay as well as mine because I should of caught the mistake before it went out the door. Is this legal? What are my options to dispute this with my employer as i cannot afford to lose this kind of money? Plus this mistake was not even my fault.

Bonus and Overtime

DJSKLR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:59:32 GMT

I just went to a Payroll Law seminar and was surprised to hear that if we give out a bonus based on the employee's perfor... we will need to calculate the bonus money into their overtime rate. (for a non-exempt employee) Is this really true?

Unfair Practices

zramey — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:28:27 GMT

I work for a rather large company in a sales type of department. Obviously we deal with leads. It is actually an education company. I was working with a lead that I acquired through a personally developed refferal(PDR). This means basically that I got the lead from someone who was currently doing business with me. When this PDR went to start doing business with my company it suddenly switched to another persons name and I was told that I am not allowed to work with that person due to lead policy. After going to the head of the Human Resources and sending numerous emails I found that there is no documented policy it is almost as if it were word of mouth. Not only does this affect my numbers, but a couple of days ago I was placed on a performance evaluation that strictly required me to bring up the number of clients I have within a two week period. On the other hand I get compensated every 6 months for how many clients I help. This client would have bumped me up another $4,000 dollars in my salary. So what I have here is a double edged sword. I could be placed on a performance plan (means to an end) and I lost a substantial amount of money after this ordeal. Again I have tried to get a copy of the policy, but there is no policy and they still refuse to give me the client. The head of Human resources stated to me that there is no written policy for leads. My question is do I have anything I could do about this? If more information is needed please let me know.

Illegal Suspension

Legal Eagle302 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:46:37 GMT

Good Morning.

My husband works for the Postal Service and was put on an illegal suspension. First of all, he should have never been put on the suspension because his absent record before this suspension was expunged. There are several steps that the Postal Service has to go through in order to put someone on suspension.

Step 1- Verbal Warning

Step 2- Written Warning

Step 3- Seven Day Suspension

Step 4- Fourteen Day Suspension

Step 5- Terminination

Due to my medical issues, my husband had to take some days off. With each absence he produced a doctors note. There were not a lot of absences, and they were over a 2 year time frame. However, he went through steps 1-3, which he appealed and won. So those steps were expunged from his record, and we have the letter that proves that. His Manager overlooked that letter that expunged my husbands absences and decided to give him a 14 day suspension. This was wrong for them to do because once your record has been expunged for an offense you must start the process over. They did not do that. Then my husband was told that he couldn't come back until they came to a decision about his appeal for this 14 day suspension which started in July 2009, but he was told that he would be paid until they came to a decision. They stopped paying him in August 2009. He has been receiving blank pay stubs since. We cannot afford a lawyer, and we are also in danger of losing our home. Please if anyone knows what we can do, please advise.

resignation

ousted — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:07:32 GMT

I submitted my resignation letter to my former employer. Upon receiving it, they decided to not accept my resignation and cease employment that date. Another employee who submitted her resignation less than a month after me was allowed to work out her notice. We both worked the same position and I was employed longer then she was. This is a nationally recognized African American company. The woman who quit after me and was allowed to work out her notice was black, and I am not. Is this a case of discrimination?

Voluntary Termination as last resort

Mishe — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:51 GMT

Hi. I have a few question regarding UE compensation. I worked for my company for 6 1/2 years. After my first year there, I became pregnant. The company is a 1 & 1/2 hr drive one way from my home. I intended to quit when my son was born because working there would mean I would be gone from 7AM-7PM and I could not find child care or afford it for that many hours and did not think it would be a responsible decision to have my child under someone elses care for 60 hours a week. They offered me a schedule to work from home 3 days a week and I was able to work it out with my mother in law to watch my son for the 2 days that I went into the office. That schedule was working out, but my son had to start grade school in September from 7:50-2:30, 5 days a week. My mother in law switched jobs and could no longer watch him during the week. I asked my employer if i could work from home full-time or switch to a schedule that would allow me to get my son to and from school. My request was denied and I saved the email stating their reply. I looked into before and after school care, which was only available until 6:30 PM and that would not work for me. I had no choice but to quit and gave them 2 months notice. My son is required to go to school and my options were exhausted. I planned to begin a carreer in a new field that would allow me to work from home, but it has not picked up yet. Approx 2 weeks after my last day, my former manager contacted me asking me to come back for a 7 week contract job where I could work part time from home. At this point, I already had a prospective job lined up in a new career which could lead to full-time employment later in the year, so I denied the request of my former employer. I did some work for the prospective employer, but only for a few hours as casual work. I have been continuing to file UE claims, but for nearly 9 weeks my claim status has said that there is an issue that is being reviewed. My questions are, will I be denied benefits because I quit and did not accept their offer to come back? Also, how long can a claim be reviewed before a decision is made? Is there anything I can do? I am bleeding my savings account and need an income while I continue to work on getting my new carreer moving.

Can I still collect UC? Worked 3 days

dktunnel — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:32:27 GMT

I took a part time job 3 days ago that I hate. Is there any kind of grace period that allows me to have worked for 3 days then quit and still be eligable to collect UC benifits?

unemployment

mexico2 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:54:58 GMT

if i'm collecting unemployment and i recieved a settlement from a civil matter. Does that interferr with my unemployment benefits?? thanks....

forced labor

moprice — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:17:30 GMT

At my job, if we have an apartment with the company you have to be on call once a week an one weekend a month.

There's no problem with, but on of the guys got real sick and we don't when he's coming back.

But the company is going to try make us work his on-calls, i don't think that's fair or right.

M questios are do i have to work these on- calls, and if i refuse can i get fired, and lastly don't i have some sorts rights here.

One more we don't get paid with doing the extra on-calls.

wages not paid

MMcIntyre — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:13:19 GMT

I am searching for information regarding, PA wage laws. My husband has been working under a contract for the last 12 years and for the last 6 months he has not been paid, enen though he has been working 40-50 hours/wk.

Economy and business is bad but employer promised to support his salary. He has not been paid and our health insurance is no longer provided for either.

We were told that there is a wage law that would protect him from this, and that the employer would have to pay for back wages, back payments for health insurance, vacation pay, our lawyer's fees and a punitive fee if we would win the case. Is any of this the case?

M Mcintyre

Workplace Wrongful Termination

Anthony8 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:31:54 GMT

During the 2008 - 2009 academic year, I was an Adjunct Professor at Bloomsburg University located in Bloomsburg PA. I am a classical musician and was teaching in the Music department.

I am a clarinetist and have insturments valued at circa $35,000 in addition to other personal property which accompanied me to the university as necessary to carry out my duties. At BU, Adjuncts are not assigned a personal office but rather provided a room in which to teach.

Therefore, should I leave that room for the rest room, lunch, coffee, etc., I had no security for my personal property simply because the Chair of the department refused to provide me with a key to secure my possessions. Thus, at every instance when it was necessary to exit the room, I had no choice but to completely pack all my possessions and take them with me.

This activity was burdensome and unnecessary.

I requested that I be issued a key(s) and was refused by the Chair of the department. I composed an email outlining basically what has been stated here and sent that to the Chair of the department. Additionally, in that email I stated that if a key(s) were not issued to me, I would be forced to resign and this email should be viewed as a letter of resignation effective immediately.

I have a copy of that email.

The Chair replied that he accepted my resignation.

Therefore, I resigned during the second semester of the 2008 - 2009 academic year.

My question involves the workplace. It is my understanding that a safe environment, both for my person and my personal property, is provided by law. If that is indeed the case. I wish to know what recourse I may have with regard to this issue.

Anthony

Salary Question

kris2814 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:50:57 GMT

I am a salaried employee in Pennsylvania. My salary is based off of 50 hours, so I must be at work 50 hours a week. the problem is that I am constantly held over, putting in anywhere from 55-60 hours a week, 5-10 hours more that what I am paid for. I receive no additional compensation for the 'extra' time I must put in. What rights do I have and I can ask to be compensated for that time. Also, is that considered overtime for me at which I would take my hourly rate at 1.5 times?

Thanks,

double jeopardy?

jwhex15089 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:52:10 GMT

My situation is as follows

I was suspended from my job pending termination because I did not list a criminal conviction on my application from 13 years ago. I didn't list it because it was a military conviction that I was told was sealed and it wouldn't follow me in the civillian world.

I have been employed with this company for 15 months without any negative reports or performance reviews. It is my understanding that all background checks were to be completed in the first year of employment, but mine some how took longer. I was told by someone not in managment that they did an additional background check on me for an unknown reason.

I was originally "charged" with conduct unbecoming, failing to report an illegal activity, and not cooperating with an investigation.

Two weeks after my hearing for these "charges" I received another letter for another hearing for and additional charge of "falsifying the application"

Is there such a thing as double jeopardy in employment law? The original charges aren't substantial enough to fire me, so they're doubling back and charging me with something that is a terminable offense. Can they do this?

Employer terminated contract to avoid payment

gahelp — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:13:38 GMT

I signed a non-compete contract that as consideration offered a portion of yearly profits, and a percent of the sale of the company should the company sell in whole or part. The company had the right to terminate the contract at any time, but the contract does not specify how that termination needs to take place.

They claim they terminated the contract at the begining of the year and now are selling the company. The problem is they did not adequately inform me that the contract was terminated. What, as a minimum would they need to do to terminate, can it be verbal, in writting on their part (such as a memo), or would we both need to sign something? They now claim that they do not owe me the percent of the sale because they "terminated" the contract.

This could result in a payment of approximately 2 years salary. I'm afraid to take this too far as they may choose to terminate me if I cause a problem, but I'm just curious about my rights so I might have a bargining chip for a negotiation of financial compensation.

Recourse if I am fired in a down economy

Mickey1001 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:13:47 GMT

I work in PA in sales for medical capital equipment. My company has just restructured and this resulted in about 100 employees being let go throughout the nation. I was fortunate not to be affected by this restructuring. This occured week of October 12th 2009.

At the end of the week I attended a meeting specific to the certain medical equipment I sell. At a team motivational dinner my direct supervisor told me he was putting me on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). He indicated I had a meeting with HR the next day regarding this. My region had a significantly reduced overall buy due to the current economics. I did not meet my budget because of this however my win rate was equal to the natinal average. I sold more units than previous year and my win rate was better than the previous year.

I was given the paperwork for the PIP the next morning. It outlined that I was being put on a PIP because I did not meet my budget, my win rate was low and I had not visited current install base and competitive install base. The only truth to this is that I did not meet my budget. MANY sales reps did not meet their budget due to the poor economy. I asked to see an excel spreadsheet that compared all sale reps and ranked the territories for the meeting that was scheduled with HR later in the day. Two hours later and before the meeting with HR my manager apprached me asking for the paperwork back and stated he had changed his mind and would not be putting me on a PIP.

I have reason to believe that management expects further reorganizations and that my direct supervisor cold be laid off. I was told it was illegal for the company to lay off employees and then replace them with someone else. However, if you are fired then they can replace the position immediately. I believe they are setting me and a few of my colleagues up to fire so that they can replace us with our direct supervisors when they are laid off.

Additionally I was diagnosed with *** Cancer in November of last year. I took off one week after surgery and worked throughout my chemo treatments. I am an employee who never takes all of my vacation, works hard and does not need to be monitored. There were no discussions about poor performance prior to this interaction, although the PIP stated that I had been spoken to about these poor performance issues previously.

I do not think that this is over and anticipate future problems.

My question is is this legal and do I have any means for recourse if I am fired from my job.

Company stock not issued

Lance in Erie — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 20:12:56 GMT

Dear Friends,

My issue maybe a bit different then most on this board, and I truly hope a lawyer or a professional in the legal field can point me in the right direction.

I work for a company that had made promises in writing (Via email) to me to issue stock in the company if I achieved set goals. Those goals have been met, and I have drafts of the contract issuing me the stock (up to 7%) from the founder of the company, and another 10% in options (valued at $500,000) that I have 6 years to exercise at the price of $200,000. When the companies lawyers drafted of change in stock ownership exchanging the minority owner to now the majority owner, they left me out.

I confronted the CEO who told me it just wasn't going to happen. And I would not receive the stock or the options. As of today both are valued close to $850,000 and soon to grow based on the new business at Wal-Mart.

The other major issue at hand is that based on the new ownership structure I agreed to take a pay cut down to $100,000 from $120,000 (plus bonus). But now my pay is at $80,000 and I am told that's all they can afford right now. I have this all in writing and the drafts to the contracts.

I just found this out yesterday, and not sure if I should lawyer up now, or take the blow and be happy I still have a job in these times we are in.

Anyone out there have any good ideas or know of a lawyer who might be interested in talking to me?

Lance

Sudden Illness and Threats to be fired

MOD-PA — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:44:10 GMT

We live and work in Pennsylvania. My wife had 2 urgent surgeries the beginning of this year with-in 3 days. During the recovery process she applied for FMLA along with short term disability. After the recovery period, she ended up having to have shoulder surgery which this recovery finished the 12 week period of FMLA.

A week and half ago, she developed acute appendicitis requiring emergent surgery that in itself had complications. She has taken regular PTO time and has not applied for short term disability. Her employer is now calling and demanding that she call the surgeon to demand a quicker follow up and release to go back to work. The employer has stated that if she fails to return back to work by next Friday she will fired.

Is there any recourse that she can take to protect herself? I know PA is an at will employment state, however these are medical situations that were sudden in nature that required urgent/emergent attention. This is the first that she has been ill and does not call off work until these occurrences. If the employer terminates her, is she eligible for UC?

Do all discrimination cases take so long for resolution?

utta — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:27:10 GMT

Filed gender discrimination with the PHRC in PA three years ago. I won by default about six months ago. Still no resolution. Now my attorney wants to file in federal court but says it will cost me quite a bit of money. Also we are looking at more time, probably a considerable amount.

Do all cases usually take this long? Does the charging party always pay?

NEW JOB NAME / SAME JOB DESCRIPTION

Rich N — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:58:14 GMT

I was laid off from my employer back in January, 2009. Now I see on their company web site that they have a job opening. The job seems to have the same duties that I did but instead of bringing me back at my rate of pay, they renamed the job to pay someone less so they don't have to call me back. I hear that happens at a lot of companys. Can anything be done? Who can I write to?

What can we do?

ginny54 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:54:29 GMT

My husband worked for the United States Postal Service for 14 yrs. He had a random drug screening on 07/07/09. He received a call on 07/16/09 that he tested positive for pot. He was suspended without first

having a meeting. He had his meeting on 07/17/09 at which time he was given a back dated paper for his

suspension, a week later he received a registered letter of termination. It stated that he was terminated as of

08/30/09. This was decided by the plant manager and his supervisor before the meeting.

As per law reqirements the manager called the SEAP and he was advised to go to rehab.

While all of this is going on the Union filed grievence's in his behalf because Dot regulations were not followed.

When he was sent to the collection site he was not asked for photo ID.

The speciman was not sealed in front of him.

The chain of command for the speciman was broken, The last one shown to have control of the urrine speciman was the USPS.

The lab did not sign that they received the speciman or if it was sealed or not the entire section for them to

sign is empty.

How do we know if this was his urine speciman? How do we know it was not tampered with? The manager of the plant told the union stewart that they did not need his ( my husband ) kind around.

Four days after his suspension his fellow workers knew of the failed test. Is this not confidental information?

They have since his termination sent him a pay check for 40 hrs wages and 80 hrs of administrative leave.

This is not severance pay as they had paid him up to his suspension.

My husband believes that this was because of the one grievence filed requesting he be paid and reinstated

because of the failure to follow DOT regulations, but the grievence filed was for all his pay, reinstatement,

them to pay for the rehab and milage for the rehab.

The USPS has not met with the Union or written the union pertaining to any of the grievence's filed.

He has completed rehab and has been released to go back to work.

I need to know were do we go from here. Do we seek an attorney? If so what kind of attorney? Do we have a

case since the chain of command was broken? Do we file with the Federal Labor relations board?

Is this drug screen information governed under HIPPA laws? Can they tell his next employer if there is one

that he failed a drug screen. Which with all that has happened might not be true.

He has never admited to the use of any drugs.

arrest record discrimination?

mattmiami — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:47:23 GMT

I was hired by a company to be a school bus driver for the school district that I live in. Part of the job screening process is an FBI criminal background check, a state police background check and a child abuse clearance check.

After working for the company for 3 days my supervisor called me into his office and told me that the school district had reviewed my FBI criminal background report and was not going to allow me to transport district children based on information contained in this report.

24 ps 1-111 as amended- background checks of prospective employes; conviction of employes of certain offenses.

(e)No person subject to this act shall be employed in a public or private school, intermediate unit or area vocational-technical school where the report of criminal history record information indicates the applicant has been convicted, within five (5) years immediately preceding the date of the report...

I do not have any convictions on my record. I do have several arrests. 5 years ago I was arrested and charged with 6 crimes. all of the charges were dropped and the cases closed. 4 of the crimes I had proof of my innocence. In the last 5 years I have not gotten as much as a parking ticket.

Several days later, I talked to the HR director for the school district and was told that the decision to not allow me to work in the school district was based solely on the information contained in the FBI criminal background report. I tried to explain that I was not convicted of any crime and that I never even went to trial on those arrests. I tried to explain the charges and how they were inflated by a police officer who told me to "tell it to the judge. if your innocent, than you have nothing to worry about"

I also found this: title 18, ss9124- criminal history record information - dissemination of criminal history record information- use of records by licensing agencies.

(a) State agencies - Except as provided by this chapter, a board, commision or department of the commonwealth, when determining eligibility for licensing, certification, registration or permission to engage in a trade, profession or occupation, may consider convictions of the applicant....

(b) PROHIBITED USE OF INFORMATION- The following information shall not be used in consideration of an application for a license, certificate, registration or permit:

(1) records of no arrest if there is no conviction of a crime based on the arrest.

My question to this board are as follows:

1. If it is illegal to ask an applicant if they have ever been arrested, and the state says that no state agency can use an arrest record in it's decisions regarding profession or occupation, than how can the school district use my arrest record to deny me my employment?

2. Have I been discriminated against? I am not a member of one of the protected groups, I'm a white male under 40, but If I was a black female over 40 would that change anything?

3, Is the school district breaking the law and using children safety to protect their illegal hiring practices?

4. what do I do now to protect my rights?