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Wrongfully suspended from work
Anonymous2 views3 answers
I had a few friend/s/co-workers over at my house 3 weeks ago. Everyone decided to prank a girl that worked with us and is still with the company, but at a different location. We weren't at work, on the clock or talked about about work. She called HR and the 5 of us that were here are suspended from work. I've been suspended from work for 2 weeks now and have been calling corporate HR to find out what is going on. Every time I call, they don't have any information. They tried calling and talking to my general manager, but he won't answer any questions and refers them to our district HR manager, who is very hard to get a hold of. HR has told me several times they have tried contacting district and don't get a response back.
At this point, I'm not sure what to do. This had nothing to do with work and didn't happen at work. I've been out of work for 2 weeks and so far still getting paid, but I would like to know an answer either way, whether I still am employed there or they're going to terminate me. When I was suspended they told me I could be terminated, which doesn't make sense because it didn't happen at work. I could see if this happened at work, but I shouldn't even be suspended for something that happened on my own time. They are supposedly "investigating" the situation and that's why I'm suspended. Please help!
You likely are an at will employee, meaning that the employer can fire you at any time for any reason with or without notice. (You have the same right to fire the employer.)
That the employer has suspended the five of you may mean that this is a serious problem. Depending on what you did, there may even be criminal charges.
Do you suppose, for example, that if you kill someone on your off hour your employer cannot do anything to you since your off hour activity "had nothing to do with work and didn't happen at work"?
Depending on what this prank was, you may want to review the facts with an attorney.
If you are not under a contract with your employer or in a union, you can be fired for any reason or indeed for no reason (which would include a mistaken or incorrect reason). CA is an "at-will" state - that means you can quit without giving notice and you can be fired without notice. Of course, you cannot be fired for a constitutionally-protected reason (age , gender, national origin for example) But here I think you need a dose of reality. You and 5 others prank a co-worker and you think it is unrelated to your employment? While I agree with the previous answer that since you are at will it doesn't matter whether it was related or not , but this is related. I think you are ahead of the game since the employer is continuing to pay you, what is the rush to force them to make a decision. I would wait to see what their determination is, but also start looking for another place of employment as a back up.
The above answers are correct. You pranked a co-worker, that makes it job-related. You think your actions should have no consequences? Time to wake up and smell the coffee. Your lucky you and your cohorts weren't immediately terminated. The phrase "wrongfully suspended from work" doesn't apply to your situation. Hopefully you learned something from this rather than wallowing in self-pity.
