Do I have a case to appeal for disqualified unemployment?
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Do I have a case to appeal for disqualified unemployment?
I recently quit my job due to a hostile work environment. New Link Destination
day I had my phone
interview with the unemployment office. I have a feeling that I’m going to have to appeal this. I am wondering if I have a case. There are a couple of reasons why it was a hostile work environment. It started with one of my fellow managers bullying specific employees to the point where they got anxiety thinking about having to work him. I was the only manager they felt comfortable opening up to because they were in fear of loosing their jobs.
When I brought this to the attention of my GM he simply swept it under the rug because him and the other manager are best friends. Things escalated from all this to the point where the 2 of them went as far to single out a select few determined to try to get them to quit such as adjusting their schedule making it
impossible with their other job to continue working and she had no choice
but to quit. This employee had been a valued employee for 8 years. It wasn’t
until she started speaking up about the schedule changes that they tried to push her out. Another of our employees was actually wrongfully fired for no other reason than her recent health issues and her appearance because of it. They came up with the excuse that it was performance based but I disagreed with that as her performance, other than issues surrounding her health, was good. After that there was talk of pushing out another employee again because after being bullied by the same manager she spoke up for her self and they labled her as a
Asked on July 29, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
While there is no harm in appealing (it costs you nothing unless you hire a lawyer to help), you do not have a good case. Your quit; that is a voluntary separation from employment; when you voluntarily leave employment, you may not receive unemployment. You do not describe being personally the victim of illegal discrimination (e.g. you do not write that you were harassed due to your own race, national origin, sex, color, age 40 or over, religion, sex, or disabaility). Exempt when it is one of these prohibited forms of discimination/harassment, your employer may be as hostile and unpleasant and unfair as it likes--that is implicit in the concept of "employment at will," which is the law of this land. If you quit because your job is hostile, that might be the right choice for your life, but it disqualifies you from unemployment.
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