Oregon Employment Legal Questions

You should always tell the truth. Look closely at the question. If it asked "ever charged" etc, then you must disclose They will do a background check. They will find this, and you will be fired. You will not be unemployment eligible But, if you disclose, they just might overlook it, if it is minor. I know of police who have prior convictions for marijuana possession. They told the truth, were drug tested, and were hired.... Read More

I do not know if un-married parties qualify for FMLA. I do not know if federal employees qualify for FMLA, the Feds likely have their own policy, which may or may not include you. often, the US GOVT is exempt from certain laws, like FMLA. They even have their own unemployment comp plan. I suggest you just ask your employer, and see what they tell you.... Read More

North Carolina is an "at-will employment" state, meaning that, with limited exceptions, an employee can be terminated for a bad reason, an unfair reason, any reason at all, or no reason, as long as the reason is not illegal (such as sex or race discrimination). So the employer does not need a reason - or grounds - for the termination. If you were not present, you probably cannot claim that you yourself were offended, or that you considered it a "hostile environment" on account of your sex or otherwise. You have not stated sufficient facts to make any determination, but it is conceivable that if you had "accidents" due to a disability (or that your supervisor considered you to have had a disability), and she was making fun of your disability when she stated she had an accident, that could be considered a form of harassment on account of your disability. You would have the right to ask her (I'd do it in writing, and keep a copy) not to make such comments because you feel they degrade and humiliate you on account of your disability. If she continued to make such comments, you could have a cause of action, as long as you followed the proper reporting procedures within your company. You could also report possible harassment or discrimination - or retaliation because you complained of such harassment or discrimination - to the EEOC. I strongly advise that you speak with a lawyer to determine your best course of action.... Read More

Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act,  an employer is required to compensate an employee for all the time that the employee works, regardless of whether the employer approved of the work or not. In the facts that you include it seems that the employer expected you to do the work and not claim it. If the employer has time records that indicate that you worked more than 40 hours during a 7 day pay period, those records can be used to claim the pay for the hours at the rate of 150% of your "regular rate of pay. If you are paid on a piece rate basis, you divide your pay for the 7 day pay period by the number of hours that you worked to get what your "regular hourly rate" of pay is. Then you multiply that by 1.5 (150%), then you multiply that by the number of hours you worked over 40 hours in the pay period.  That's the amount you should have been paid.  If you sue your employer in federal court you can win that amount multiplied by 2 (with the additional amount being considered "liquidated damages" ). There is no reason for you not to get a lawyer to represent you in this because if he wins your case, his fees have to be paid by the employer, not you.  Oregon also has its own state minimum wage laws. If they require more pay than the federal laws would get for you, you can also include state law claims for the additional amount. We litigate a great number of these cases. They are quite lucrative for the employee and his lawyer. They are quite expensive for the employer too. The employer may not retaliate against you for filing a suit. If it does, you can recover additional damages for retaliation. In one case that we litigated the back pay liability at the time we asked the employer to simply pay the overtime that was due to the employees would have cost the employer only $3000, plus less than $1000 of attorneys fees. When the case was concluded (3 years later) it had cost the employer (a city government) over $250,000. This is one reason why we don't settle these cases for less than 100% of what is owed to the employee (including liquidated damages). You should contact a wage-hour lawyer. Michael Caldwell 404-979-3150 ... Read More

Regardless of whether your husband works for the government directly or for a private company, there's nothing in your post that immediately indicates there's anything illegal going on. Employment positions with the government are afforded certain due process before an individual can be fired, while private companies don't necessarily provide such rights, but either way the health care situation of a spouse is generally immaterial to one's employment status. You don't indicate *why *your husband is on administrative leave, which is a key consideration. If he's in the process of being fired *because *you're receiving expensive health care treatment under the group plan, then you might have a viable claim. If there is no causal connection between his firing and your health care status, however, and the two are merely incidentally connected and effected, then there's likely no legal claim. In short, yes, a company can fire him while you are still in treatment. Whether or not the company is legally doing so in this particular instance, however, is hard to say without more information. Additionally, if your husband is fired, he should look into getting COBRA benefits, which can continue to provide health care coverage for some 18 months after termination.... Read More

Sure.  Unless you work some sort of "flex time" or other schedule that you determine yourself, an employer expects you to be at work, on time, whenever you are scheduled to be there.  If you are not, it can seriously disrupt the employer's work.  When you aren't there, you are subject to discipline, and most employers reserve the right to discharge employees who are repeatedly late or absent.  It may well be that the responsible person within your company was not aware you were late until several days after the incident.  You were late, and you're going to have to take responsibility for that.... Read More

There could be any number of legal issues implicated here, depending on the facts of the situation. You could claims relating to infliction of emotion distress, interference with contractual relations, harassment, blackmail, defamation, and/or libel/slander. Given the potentially sensitive and confidential nature of this issue, you should contact with an attorney and consult regarding what your options may be.... Read More

I don't necessarily see facts here that would ultimately provide a winnable cause of action for fraud, but that doesn't mean that the other company's attorney couldn't ultimately prove a fraud claim.There could be any number of "facts" that you're not aware of, or that the other company might assert. Further, if the former employee/candidate is already suing the former company, that company would be counter-claiming against the individual with whatever claims and defenses may be relevant, and then you'd then be a third-party defendant, in addition to being a key witness for the former employee/candidate plaintiff. It's possible that this procedural tactic is meant to impact your willingness to testify and/or your willingness to help, but it's just impossible to know for sure whether or not there may well be some facts that support a fraud claim. While I have no basis to know or suspect, I would imagine that the other company likely has no real interest in suing you at all they just don't want to get sued by this former employee. But as a defense to that case, they're going to try to allege that the former employee and/or you perpetuated some fraud, with the cost of their legal defense being the relevant damages. In any event, if you're being sued you need to retain an attorney to assist you. Likely this should be done by the company you work for, as it's likely that all of your actions in this situation were done while performing work at the direction of your employer. Thus, your employer, as an entity, is most likely the proper party and not you personally. But they can allege facts that might make just you the proper party, or both you and your company. Of course, do keep in mind that alleging facts and proving facts are two very different things.Unfortunately, there's no simple form to file that would relieve you of being a defendant. Once you're sued you either have to settle the case with the plaintiff, or get the case dismissed via motions. Unfortunately, filing and arguing such motions are not quick and immediate answers, though, and take significant time, skill and experience to draft and execute. Additionally, you may well have counter-claims against this company for suing you without any basis to do so.... Read More

If you are not under a contract, you are normally an "employee at will". This means you can quit or be fired for any or no reason so long as it does not violate some discrimination or other law. Under the facts you describe, you can be asked to come in at any time and if you don't, you can be terminated. However, if the termination is not for "good cause", it will not disqualify you for unemployment compensation if you are otherwise eligible. You are also able to tell this employer that you can't show up, but you would be risking termination without legal recourse.... Read More

If you were denied UI benefits, the Employment Department will have a reason for your denial. If this occurred pursuant to an initial telephone conversation/interview with the Employment Dept. staff, the next step is often appealing their decision to the Oregon Administrative Hearings division, which has an ALJ listen to both sides (i.e., you, your employer and/or Employment Dept. staff) to make a decision on your entitlement to benefits. If you lose that hearing, then, you can appeal again, this time, I believe, to the Court of Appeals. If you're already to the point where you're needing to appeal to the Court, you definitely need to obtain an attorney. Often unemployment attorneys will take cases regarding the failure to pay UI benefits on a contingency, wherein their fee is 20% of back due benefits. There are two things you should keep in mind in pursuing this: First, the Court of Appeals isn't like a normal court, and they don't evaluate new evidence or have trials in the same way as you may be familiar with. They only analyze and evaluate the application of the law to the administrative record as it's been established in your case. Not insurmountable, of course, but simply very different from the normal procedure and process of a case. Second, given the facts you've presented it's impossible to know whether or not you have a case at all. You don't state why you were denied benefits, only that you appealed because you have yet to find work. The way Oregon's UI system works, at certain levels, doesn't take into account whether or not you've been successful in finding work. There are numerous reasons, in spite of that, for why the benefit could have been cut off, such as an expired benefit amount, time limit, current job search, paperwork deficiency, availability to work, the status of your previous job and the circumstances around your termination, etc.... Read More

The timing of your question confuses me a bit, as I got this question at 1pm which likely means you submitted it either a day or more ago, and thus everything has likely already taken place. In any event, yes, he can be fired. And if he's not fired, yes he can be asked to work more hours. The only way this would not be the case then is if the scheduling or the firing didn't conform to the policies as laid out in the employer's own policies, usually contained in a handbook or the like. Given the previous warnings, a termination would likely be in conformity. They scheduling/punishment, however, may not. Regardless, if the ultimate goal is to simply not lose your job, it seems to me to be a bit of a no-brainer. Of course, the employer does not have the right to NOT pay him for those hours, as they must conform to Oregon's wage laws at all times, including for overtime pay.... Read More

Unless you are in a union or under contact you can be terminated any time for no reason, even for a wrong reason (just not a discriminatory reason). Perhaps you can try writing a letter to your former employer to explain the situation but you cannot sue for your job back. Any wages you earned prior to your being terminated must be paid to you.... Read More

Ordinarily, employment in California is at-will, which means that your employer can terminate you for any reason without cause, as long as it is not an illegal reason. There are several exceptions to the general rule, however. For example, if you are a public employee, your employer may be required to have just cause to terminate you. In addition, even if your employer is a private entity, it may have created an expectation that you would not be terminated without just cause through contract or policy. You should see an attorney to determine whether you have any recourse.... Read More

He should file for unemployment. In these circumstances, it's possible that the employer would contest a benefit award, which would necessitate a hearing, at which time he could offer up evidence explaining the situation. Whether he's ultimately entitled or not, however, depends on the factual findings of the ALJ, specifically whether or not he was fired for cause. He can retain an attorney to represent him in this proceeding if necessary.... Read More