Wrongful Hiring AND Termination?

[NightCook]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington State.

Here's a rundown of recent events:
I just recently got an interview with Denny's about a night cook position available. I was employed with Red Lobster as a Utility/Dishwasher at the time, but needed new work due to hour cuts that left me unable to pay my bills. the Denny's position was advertised as full time. My initial interviewer loved me, sent me off to the Denny's I'd be working at immediately for a second interview with the manager I'd be working under, and she hired me right at the end of the interview; both described a pressing need for an additional cook.

During this second interview, my Manager - Sarah, I'll call her - stated a number of interesting things to me. Specifically, there was an explicit verbal promise made that my hours would never fall below 30 in a week, and an additional promise - completely un-sought-after by me - that if any shifts had to be cancelled, Denny's had a policy of ferrying the worker in question to another nearby Denny's to work a shift there instead, a way for the restaurants to help eachother out. At the conclusion of the interview the plan was for me to put my two weeks in at Red Lobster and start at Denny's immediately after, but I was offered a small shift on a day off and agreed to come in and begin working right away.

Red Lobster ended up cutting my remaining shifts aside from one, and Denny's offered me a better shift on the same day, so I called out on that last shift - well after my two weeks had been entered - and the manager I spoke to claimed I would have to be fired. This, however, is simply backstory((although bonus points to anyone who lets me know for sure whether Red Lobster could have fired me if I'd already put in my two weeks' notice))

Yesterday, Tuesday, November 25th, I was fired over the phone from Denny's. Between my hiring and my firing, two weeks and two days had passed; my official start date had been the 8th, but the first day I worked had been, I believe, the 7th. Less than half of these shifts have been actual graveyard shifts, as I had been hired for. My trainer was a day cook, and so most of my shifts were with her, and from the first day I was told I was doing rather exceptional, at least in comparison to the past four trainees she'd worked with this year. Nevertheless, other cooks had stated I was progressing more than adequately, and the Assistant Manager had much the same to say; specifically that I was exceeding their expectations.

Leading to problem #1: The first I was asked in to work was Friday the 7th at 5pm, for an 11pm-7am shift. Since I had no idea I was going to be asked to work, I had been up since 7am already. Nonetheless, I agreed and worked the shift, and at the conclusion of this shift I was given a schedule. It had me coming back in Saturday at 11pm-4am, and.... Sunday, 9am-2pm. Not even an 8 hour break in this time period. Saturday morning I was barely able to sleep, having had no chance to adjust to night work, so after 3 hours, I was up again for the day, starting around noon. I simply couldn't sleep any longer. I went in Saturday night and my work was suffering, I developed a headache and has having coordination and speed issues, and by the end of that shift I was a wreck. I called out on the Sunday shift, far too exhausted to work it; I had been awake for 26 hours, gotten 3 hours of sleep, and then had been up for another 14. Busses don't run through the hours surrounding midnight on any day here, and even if they did, I would have had no time to return home and sleep before I would be leaving again to be at work by 9. My Manager, Sarah, was rather upset with my calling out and didn't see any reason I wasn't able to work.

Problem #2: The next weekend, I worked roughly the same schedule. Friday, 11pm-4am, but come Saturday, I was informed at 5pm that that my Saturday Night 11pm-4am shift had been cancelled. At roughly 11pm that Saturday night, after questions regarding how I was expected to get to work in time for Sunday's 9am shift, I was informed that that shift had been cancelled, too. I worked Monday at 9am-1pm, and that evening I was informed that Tuesday's shift for the same hours was *also* cancelled, and that I needed to call in Tuesday morning at 7am.

I expected to be told I was working all of Thanksgiving or something, but instead I was informed by the Assistant Manager that Sarah had decided I wasn't working out, and "my services were no longer required". I got a hold of Sarah on her cell phone, posted in the office for work-related calls, long enough for her to add that I "work at the speed of a dying turtle, lied about [my] experience, and even if that wasn't true we simply can't afford to keep a new cook right now."

The summary: I was hired under pressing need for a new cook and fired two weeks later for a total lack of any ability to pay for a new cook; have suffered claims that my resume, including military service, is entirely made up; was scheduled for and required to work two shifts that I suspect to have been illegally-scheduled(the two Sunday shifts that took place less than 8 hours after my previous Saturday shifts); and my Manager fired me using reasons that no one else in that Denny's feels are accurate(although the assistant manager did a complete 180 last night when I went in to grab pictures of my schedule).

If anyone can help me figure out how much of this I can take to Denny's upper management and claim is some for of illegal or fraudulent business practice, anything along those lines, I would greatly appreciate it. I'm now stuck with Unemployment provided the Unemployment Office sides with me in this matter, and can expect no more than $151 a week until I find a new job; even with this and selling plasma, I won't be able to pay all my bills on my own.

 

[cbg]

Nothing you have posted is illegal. You are free to take it to upper management; I'm not claiming things were handled well. But nothing you have posted violates any laws or protected rights; nothing you have posted is fraudulent in the legal sense of the term.

 

[ajkroy]

In addition, why is the bus schedule your employer's problem? It is up to you to find reliable transportation to work and if you call out if you cannot, then I would expect to be fired.

 

[commentator]

Very sorry, but it sounds like unemployment benefits, which will take a while to sort out (be sure you certify for each week as it passes while you are waiting for the decision) will be your only recourse. There's no such thing as an "illegal shift" and no one who employs you gives a flying hoot whether or not you're getting adequate rest or whether the bus schedules accommodate your shifts as assigned.

Two weeks notice is NOT required nor is it expected by anyone. You did not have any reason to give Red Lobster two weeks notice, you could leave any time. And if they want to say you're fired when you've already given them notice that you'll be gone in two weeks, that's perfectly legal. Usually that's what people do, when you go in and tell them you're leaving in two weeks, they say, "Leave now!" They don't want you around, and it's really semantics.

They were being sort of stupid, because when they say you're fired, they actually are making it easier for you to draw unemployment benefits from their employer account. Because if they did not have a valid misconduct reason to fire you, which it sounds like they didn't, they're on the hook for unemployment. But if you had given them notice and quit, and they just said you quit, they are not responsible for any of your unemployment because you left the job at your choice.

As far as the next place (Denny's) goes, it's a good thing you were terminated. If you had quit, then you'd have been totally without recourse, would NOT have qualified for unemployment benefits. If you are let go, for any reason during the probationary period, regardless of what they've promised you or what was said to you earlier, you just have to say, "I showed up and did my best, and they were not satisfied with my performance." And you're good for unemployment benefits.

But as far as "having a case" against either Red Lobster or Denny's you do not. No labor laws were violated. It just happened that you quit Red Lobster (don't worry about your future resumes, everyone leaves one job to go to another better one, half the time they say you were fired, half the time they say you quit, nobody really cares) and you went to Denny's. The job started off well, but then you found that they far over scheduled you, and you had a lot of trouble adjusting to their schedules, and the job just did not work out. You were terminated during your probationary period. This should be good enough to get you unemployment benefits while you look for something else.

That you are a veteran is good, and it will get you some preference in hiring on some jobs. That somebody somewhere indicated they didn't believe you were a veteran is a bunch of hooey. Who cares?

Denny's upper management does not give a hoot whether or not they (justly or unjustly) fired a probationary cook somewhere in bumpharr Egypt, and no labor laws were violated in all that happened regarding your scheduling. And really, no one, not even the unemployment system gives a flying hoot how long it will take you to find another job and whether or not you can pay your bills.

This is not being unsympathetic, this is just the reality of our workplace in this country. You must find something else quickly and move on, forget about how wronged you have been, and move on to the next position. This will in the long run prove to be a very small part of your life.

Sign up immediately on your unemployment benefits. Tell them you were LET GO DURING YOUR PROBATIONARY PERIOD. Tell them YOU ALWAYS SHOWED UP FOR THE SHIFTS YOU WERE ASKED TO WHEN POSSIBLE AND ALWAYS DID THE JOB TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES. This should get you approved, eventually. Denny's probably won't even fight the claim too diligently. They term people during their probationary period all the time.

Don't waste a lot of time telling the unemployment system how poor you are, how much they "falsely promised" you, that you think the shifts were illegal (they're not) or any of that other extraneous business. Move forward, and soon you'll be back on your feet. Good luck to you as you work your way through all this.