Is there a lawyer (hell, even a law student or paralegal) in the house?

[DiscoQueenB612]

Where do I find employment law information for my state (OK?) I may get fired, or laid off, or something, pretty soon, and I want to know whether or not I'm entitled to umemployment benefits. Also, if my company's not headquartered here ( it's HQ'd in VA) do I go by OK laws or VA?

Thanks!

[SunDevil]

What type of work do you do? Does it matter if you are a salary or hourly worker? What if you are a contractor and are working on a yearly contract? Does it matter how much money you made at your job?

[DiscoQueenB612]

What type of work do you do? Does it matter if you are a salary or hourly worker? What if you are a contractor and are working on a yearly contract? Does it matter how much money you made at your job?

You're a lawyer? Awesome! :)

I'm a computer programmer, fulltime "regular" salaried employee. Not a contractor or anything like that. I make 51K/yr. Does that help?

[yankeeyosh]

Unless it's due to misconduct, you probably are entitled to unemployment in your state. I've been laid off twice from jobs, and collected unemployment both times...no problems.

[DiscoQueenB612]

What exactly qualifies as misconduct?

ETA: I just refused an assignment at work in which my employer was making unreasonable demands on the team members - I told them it wasn't gonna work for reasons a, b, and c, and asked for a different assignment. I was made aware (not suprised to hear it though) that that refusal is probably going to result in my getting dismissed. Is that misconduct?

[winneythepooh7]

I believe if you are laid off, yes, you are entitled to unemployment benefits. If you are getting fired for misconduct, please don't be the asshole who took my former awesome boss to court than lied on the stand to try to get unemployment. I ran into this dick one day and wanted to spit in his face. Not saying that this is the situation with you, but in general, it's just not cool when people do stuff like this.

[winneythepooh7]

What exactly qualifies as misconduct?

Well, let's see, with my old-co-worker he used to leave his shift constantly, leave the client's alone, have his friends come into the job site (which is against agency policy), ummmm, the best was we found out he was claiming to be a "therapist" and dude barely had an Associate's degree.............when he got caught in the act from my boss not being on site, he claimed that my boss fired him for being gay, as well as other lies.........

[DiscoQueenB612]

If you are getting fired for misconduct, please don't be the asshole who took my former awesome boss to court than lied on the stand to try to get unemployment. I ran into this dick one day and wanted to spit in his face.

hehe, how do you really feel? Am I guilty of misconduct or not? They could just as easily put me on another project; there are several open positions I could fill. It's really their choice to shit-can me.

[winneythepooh7]

hehe, how do you really feel? Am I guilty of misconduct or not? They could just as easily put me on another project; there are several open positions I could fill. It's really their choice to shit-can me.

From what I understand, it is easier to fire employees in business-related fields. In human services, it seems to be a lot harder, because many agencies have that "helping others" motto in their agency mission statement, so they like to apply it to their employees, as well. I think in any job where you are part of making the agency a profit, it will be easier for them to come up with a reason to let you go. But this is just a theory of mine.........

[DiscoQueenB612]

Well, let's see, with my old-co-worker he used to leave his shift constantly, leave the client's alone, have his friends come into the job site (which is against agency policy), ummmm, the best was we found out he was claiming to be a "therapist" and dude barely had an Associate's degree.............when he got caught in the act from my boss not being on site, he claimed that my boss fired him for being gay, as well as other lies.........


Well, all I did was this - my office, the one they hired me to work in and said I would be working in, is 10 miles from my house. Now, they tell me that they want me to commute to a client site 150 miles away, and back, every single day. They are not putting me up in a hotel, not reimbursing me for gas, not asking me to relocate, they are not paying for me to relocate, as they claim this is "temporary" for 4 months. I simply told them that the commute was excessive, would burn me out, and I was interested in working locally as I was hired to do.

[winneythepooh7]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm..............this sounds like something I know of a particular female familiar to the QLC boards is going through right now ;). In any event, I have no idea. Is this anything written in your job description? Employee handbook?

[DiscoQueenB612]

From what I understand, it is easier to fire employees in business-related fields. In human services, it seems to be a lot harder, because many agencies have that "helping others" motto in their agency mission statement, so they like to apply it to their employees, as well. I think in any job where you are part of making the agency a profit, it will be easier for them to come up with a reason to let you go. But this is just a theory of mine.........

That's screwed up. Human services jobs have more on the line if you fail.

But when they fire me, would it be for misconduct or not?

[DiscoQueenB612]

it is unethical for paralegals to provide legal advice without the supervision of an attorney (I do not know the answer to your question anyway, and we do not have any employment law attorneys in my office).


I wasn't asking you to do anything unethical, and I don't think my original post came across that way. Esp since the thread is titled "Is there a lawyer in the house?" ;)


Thanks for the website, though - before I look at that, should I be looking up OK or VA employment law???