They want me to waive any future claims.
In Oct. of 2002 I complained to supv. re: Overtime/comptime. I and the 2 workers I supervised were salaried. All the DOL guidelines say we should not have been. My supervisor was "pissed" and the HR person used profanity to show his disgust that I brought it up. In Dec, 2002 I was written up for putting non covered items on an expense report immediately after requesting they revisit the non written OT/comptime policy. In Jan 2003 I was fired for misuse of a PC. I think they had begun to build a file as there is no policy in place that governs PC use. Anyway I'm out and have been denied unemployment benefits. I filed for unpaid OT with the FLSA and recently the company sent me a copy of the employment agreement, a form covering intellectual property and a waiver killing all future claims I might have. In your opinion would their failure to pay OT wages breach the at will contract or are they just trying to protect against the unemployment appeal?Or maybe something I may not see?
1 answer | asked Apr 10, 2003 6:28 PM [EST] | applies to North Carolina
Answers (1)
I may not understand all your questions, but I can tell you that if you are in North Carolina, as I assume, then you may not be retaliated against because you complain that you are not being paid overtime. That violates NC statutes.
As to the so-called waiver, is this something you signed some time ago or is it something they want you to sign now in order to settle all claims? I would certainly advise you to seek counsel to be sure that you understand what your legal rights are. That means that you should have your documents reviewed.
As to your unemployment appeal, if you are appealing to have an evidentiary hearing, you should understand that the hearing will be your only effective opportunity to present your case. Once you have had the hearing where each side presents its evidence to a neutral fact-finder, the record of that hearing is set. It sounds like the company was successful at the first level (and I am assuming that was the informal adjudicator level), so I would again recommend that you consult counsel to make sure that you do not fail to introduce all the evidence possible to show why you think you were discharged.
You have a rather complicated situation. You would benefit yourself and any future lawyer by creating a very detailed chronology that explains everything that was said by whom and on what date. If there were witnesses to any of the incidents, then that needs to be noted also.
posted by Reagan Weaver | Apr 11, 2003 08:52 AM [EST]
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