Please advise course of action

[Djdaxx]

In the State of California.

I was working for a transportation company as a senior Mangaer/Director of Operations. The company chose to change the way they paid their drivers, by reducing the taxable side of their pay and increasing the reimbursable side(drivers had to overstate miles driven to make up the difference). The reason this was done was to reduce their workers compensation premiums to the state of California. At the same time we implemented background screening and were instructed not to hire anyone with a previous workers comp claim on the check. We also ran checks on any employee within 90 days of hire and terminated any employee who had a WC claim show up on the check. I brought these issues to te CEO, which I knew was professional suicide and was basically told to get on-board with the changes or find other work. I did try and find other comparable work with no success. I finally gave notice when the work environment became unbearable and left the company. It has been a year and I am still unemployed and starting to feel it financially. Had the company not made the changes I enjoyed the company and would still be there. I was never disciplined in any way and received above average raises and reviews. I was awarded unemployment benefits after my departure, since the state agreed with me that it was a "constructive discharge" and that I would probably been terminated anyway. After my departure I shared documents with a couple state agencies and they are now starting an investigation into the company. Please help me decide what path I can pursue if any.


Chuck

 

[SuzieWahoozie]

This is a hard one to call. On the surface, it looks like your employer was asking you to do something illegal, you refused, and then you voluntarily left the position, which is the right thing to do (although personally I wouldn't have left until I had something else lined up). You don't give enough information for us to determine whether ir was constructive discharge or not. Just because the unemployment office thinks so, doesn't necessarily make it so. UI and the law many times have different ways to measure these things!

Certainly, the reporting you apparently did to the state agencies was a good move. Other than that, you might want to check with an attorney versed in employment law to see if there is any other recourse.

Have you had any luck in your job search at all? Are you interviewing but not being hired...or are you being denied the opportunity to interview, too?

 

[Djdaxx]

Thank you for the reply

I Did try and find something else for several months prior to my departure. I actually would have liked to have been terminated, it would have made several other decisions easier. The compnay in turned tied my hands in several ways and made my position to hard and stressful, and they in turn outlasted me. It was not worth it to myself and my family to continue my employ. Your other asssesment was correct. My company was involved in illegal measures of tax fraud and hiring discrimination. I have been unable to find work, although I have no reason to believe yet that my company has given me any negative references.

 

[cbg]

There's an easy way to tell whether or not there is any reason to believe a former employer has anything to do with someone not finding work.

If you are not getting called for any interviews, your former employer has nothing whatsoever to do with it. I guarantee you, employers simply do not call for references before they decide who to interview. Particularly in a job market such as this, when a single job opening can result in the employer receiving literally hundreds of applications, it is an incredible waste of time to call former employers before deciding who to call for an interview. It simply does not happen.

If you are getting called for interviews, the interviews go well, you are led to believe that you have a good chance at getting the job, but then nothing happens, and this happens consistantly, it does NOT guarantee or prove that your former employer is giving bad references (as I said, the job market is tight and there are an awful lot of qualified people looking for work) but it means there is at least reason to investigate.