If I was wrongfully suspended from work without pay, should I been reimbursed for my lost income?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If I was wrongfully suspended from work without pay, should I been reimbursed for my lost income?
I was suspended from work for 2 weeks from a cold storage business for supposedly taking a pallet inside the freezer without being lotted. The supervisor and dock foreman got fired for hiding that pallet once it was inside the freezer. I wasn’t aware that they were doing this. Those men got fired; I was called back to work after 2 weeks and 2 days/ It’s been 13 month since it all happened. Do they have to pay me for the loss income for that time? I’ve been taking to my union representative about this but he hasn’t done anything.
Asked on May 31, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
You say that you have a union representative, which means that there should be a union or collective bargaining agreement in place, governing your job or position. If that's the case, you have to look to that agreement, to what it says about discipline, suspension, etc., to see what the answer is. That's because in the absence of an employment contract, including a union agreement, employees are employees at will. An employee at will can be suspended--or fired, demoted, transferred, pay reduced, etc.--at any time, for any reason (other than a *very* few illegal reasons, like illegal racial or sex-based discrimination). This includes being suspended, etc. without any good reason or even mistakenly--that is, unfortunately, legal under the law. So the law generally doesn't protect you in this case; you need to see what your union agreement says.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.