wrongful termination,retaliation and misrepersantation of union

first, i am a union member. next, one morning i was dispatched to my employers shop, after i arrived i was greeted by a project manager with my last paycheck and told the company was letting me go, i asked why and recieved a "i do not know". 4 or 5 days later after i had boss on phone asking him y and him not telling me, i got a text from my office manager stating that i got let go for several reasons, 1, i was barred from 3 accounts and because the company could not get paid by a customer from a job i was on. i am a hvac service tech. after recieving that message and knowing they were lies, i contacted 2 of the 3 accounts and recieved verbal confirmation that i was not barred and in fact i was constantly requested to respond to service calls, the 3rd i could not contact for comfirmation but i can prove that i wasnt cause the date of supposed incident the company says got me barred i was at that account at least dozen times after, and when confronted with those facts their reasons changed and they keep changing every time i disspell their reasons, went to my union and wanted to file a grievance, when union informed company of this the company admitted to wrongful unjust termination and offered me a positon under very different terms than the terms of orignial employment and verbally admitted to me i would suffer retaliation. offer of re employment also shows retaliation for going to union and looking to file a grievance. the union refuses to take action against company citing they got me my job back and refuse to outline my request for their determination on how they say they got me my job back when terms are extremely different and suggest retaliation. i was never written up for anything, in fact my office manager and direct contact in office would consistantly say i was doing great and keep doing what i am doing when i would periodicly ask how i was doing and if there was any thing i need to do better or improve on. can someone please help me with my issue against employer and union.

1 answer  |  asked Mar 18, 2013 5:25 PM [EST]  |  applies to New York

Answers (1)

Patricia Pastor
First, with respect to your rights as a union member, and whether your discharge violates the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that covers your union's contract with your employer, I would need to see that document in order to help you. With respect to retaliation in general, you did not mention what you suspect to be the true reason for your discharge. Unless a discharge is based on some unlawful discrimination, an employer generally is not required to provide you with a reason for the discharge. "Retaliation" only comes into play when an employter retaliates against an employer for stating opposition to discrimination, harassment or some unlawful act. If your complaint about a "wrongful discharge" indicated that the discharge was based on unlawful discrimination or harassment, you might be able to establish a claim of retaliation. But, merely showing that the employer gave you a false reason for letting you go, without any claim that the true reason was unlawfully discriminatory, will not establish a valid claim. Again though, your union contract may state otherwise so that document would need to be reviewed to determine whether you were treated in an unacceptable manner.

posted by Patricia Pastor  |  Mar 19, 2013 07:23 AM [EST]

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