amazinggrace7i
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia
My coworker was fired for working off the clock. She was facing eviction from her apartment and had been stressed and not performing like her usual self, which is definitely not normal for her. She was advised by our supervisor that for the last 2 weeks her productivity has dropped tremendously. She made the bad judgement of working off the clock, once she logged off for the day. However, she was not aware, nor was I. She was not aware that there was a policy against it. Upon being terminated, she was told that she violated the timekeeping policy. We both went over the policy and found that it did not specifically address working off the clock. She also spoke with a coworker as well as 2 Team Leads in different departments, who were also not aware of this policy. I advised her to appeal the termination, which she did. She received the following response:
It is very difficult to put every type of work violation into a formal policy. Working off the clock is serious because of the possibility that employees may not be paid for the time that they worked and companies are required to pay them that time. Consequently, you will be paid for the unrecorded time that we are able to identify, even though that time was not authorized and you may not have expected to be compensated for it. While the Employee Handbook and the Timekeeping policy do not specifically address working off the clock, both documents reference the falsification of time. The Handbook states “Employees who falsify any timekeeping record may be subject to corrective action up to and including termination.” The Timekeeping policy states that “An employee falsifying any timekeeping records is subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination”, and states that “missed or incorrectly reported time should be documented and sent to the time editor.” Not reporting your accurate work time is considered falsifying your time. If you believe that the decision to terminate you is unfair, you may request a peer review panel to review your case. Please make sure that HR has your new address so that we can send you the peer review request information. If you are interested in going before a peer review panel, you will need to submit a formal request to do so. If you have any questions, please contact either myself or HR manager.
Also, she never received a separation notice until after the appeal was completed, even after requesting it several times and being told that it was put in the mail. When she finally received it, it was via email with "Falsification Of Time" being the reason. At no time was this mentioned after after the appeal response. She never offered to email anything other than the "Employment Dispute Process", which she was advised that it was included with her separation notice. On two different occasions, the HR mgr stated that the separation notice was mailed but each time nothing was received. According to GA Department Of Labor, the Notice Of Separation should be given in person or mailed to the last known address within 3 day. She was terminated on 11/2/17 but did not receive a separation notice until 11/15/17. The appeal was submitted on 11/12/17 via email per instruction. She received a response from the appeal reviewer on 11/14/17. Also, my friend moved and stated that she updated her address with HR manager on 11/13/17, who stated that she would be update their system. She then offered to email it the separation notice. However, she did not send anything until 11/15/17.
Are my friend and I overreacting or is this odd? There are so many unanswered questions here:
1. Why did the reason for termination change?
2. Why does it seem fishy that no separation notice was received until my friend appealed the termination decision, even though the HR Manager claims to have mailed it twice?
3. Why was job termination the only disciplinary option, even though the "Timekeeping Policy" that she was initially told she violated states "May be subject to corrective action up to and including termination"? Especially, with not prior disciplinary actions on file?
My coworker was fired for working off the clock. She was facing eviction from her apartment and had been stressed and not performing like her usual self, which is definitely not normal for her. She was advised by our supervisor that for the last 2 weeks her productivity has dropped tremendously. She made the bad judgement of working off the clock, once she logged off for the day. However, she was not aware, nor was I. She was not aware that there was a policy against it. Upon being terminated, she was told that she violated the timekeeping policy. We both went over the policy and found that it did not specifically address working off the clock. She also spoke with a coworker as well as 2 Team Leads in different departments, who were also not aware of this policy. I advised her to appeal the termination, which she did. She received the following response:
It is very difficult to put every type of work violation into a formal policy. Working off the clock is serious because of the possibility that employees may not be paid for the time that they worked and companies are required to pay them that time. Consequently, you will be paid for the unrecorded time that we are able to identify, even though that time was not authorized and you may not have expected to be compensated for it. While the Employee Handbook and the Timekeeping policy do not specifically address working off the clock, both documents reference the falsification of time. The Handbook states “Employees who falsify any timekeeping record may be subject to corrective action up to and including termination.” The Timekeeping policy states that “An employee falsifying any timekeeping records is subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination”, and states that “missed or incorrectly reported time should be documented and sent to the time editor.” Not reporting your accurate work time is considered falsifying your time. If you believe that the decision to terminate you is unfair, you may request a peer review panel to review your case. Please make sure that HR has your new address so that we can send you the peer review request information. If you are interested in going before a peer review panel, you will need to submit a formal request to do so. If you have any questions, please contact either myself or HR manager.
Also, she never received a separation notice until after the appeal was completed, even after requesting it several times and being told that it was put in the mail. When she finally received it, it was via email with "Falsification Of Time" being the reason. At no time was this mentioned after after the appeal response. She never offered to email anything other than the "Employment Dispute Process", which she was advised that it was included with her separation notice. On two different occasions, the HR mgr stated that the separation notice was mailed but each time nothing was received. According to GA Department Of Labor, the Notice Of Separation should be given in person or mailed to the last known address within 3 day. She was terminated on 11/2/17 but did not receive a separation notice until 11/15/17. The appeal was submitted on 11/12/17 via email per instruction. She received a response from the appeal reviewer on 11/14/17. Also, my friend moved and stated that she updated her address with HR manager on 11/13/17, who stated that she would be update their system. She then offered to email it the separation notice. However, she did not send anything until 11/15/17.
Are my friend and I overreacting or is this odd? There are so many unanswered questions here:
1. Why did the reason for termination change?
2. Why does it seem fishy that no separation notice was received until my friend appealed the termination decision, even though the HR Manager claims to have mailed it twice?
3. Why was job termination the only disciplinary option, even though the "Timekeeping Policy" that she was initially told she violated states "May be subject to corrective action up to and including termination"? Especially, with not prior disciplinary actions on file?
