Fired, and I still don't know why. . .

[XCashier]

I made triple chocolate, sea salt, nutella stuffed cookies again. Anyone want?

"Yes, have some!" (And I wouldn't mind the recipe as well, if it's okay.)

[Golden Phoenix]

I'll PM you the recipe XCashier

I can't really claim them as my own as it's someone else's recipe, but i made a couple of tweaks to my version to suit our tastes better I'll send the original and let you know what i did.

They're a touch time consuming, but oh so worth it!

[XCashier]

Thank you! Oh, it looks so good!

[Seanette]

Pinging for update.

[Rosco the Iroc]

I went back and read though all this and this is one the EXACT reasons the soldier and sailors relief act exists. Holy crap, get activated, report do duty, go home on leave- that is granted by the military and keeps you subject to immediate recall back to the command and they claim you should be at work?

Also, yes, I had thought of the "A Few Good Men" bit too beforehand, if I'd have to try to get my former supervisor to actually admit it on the stand.

No I'm thinking someone else should come in to give them training on their treatment of military personal and it should start something like this-


Good luck, hammer the crap out of them.

[silverstaff]

Pinging for update.

Still checking the mail every day for a ruling.

Still nothing.

As of Monday it will have been a month since the filing deadline for the case, so they should be ruling some time soon, theoretically.

I'm nervous, very nervous. Been losing some sleep over it. Had a fight with my wife a couple of days ago over it. Tensions are running high with the Mrs. due to me being unemployed now for almost a year, since every single place I've applied to had refused to hire me, or wanted me to relocate to another city for a salary that was way too low to justify relocation (moving to Washington DC for a $50k/year contractor job isn't worth it), and even my prior agency has been absolutely silent on my request for reinstatement, neither granting my request or denying it. . .just refusing to even reply to the request.

If it's not in my favor, my next step is to contact an attorney for a Federal USERRA claim. The JAG at my unit says the Dept. of Labor will likely represent me.

Even if they choose not to, the Veterans Services office of my local Legal Aid agency is quite willing to. . .they just didn't feel comfortable representing me in an administrative hearing instead of a courtroom.

I know a Federal case will take years, and will de facto blackball me from a lot of jobs, so even if I win and a Federal court orders me reinstated, it'll make it next to impossible for me to be promoted or go to another agency.

A Federal case would hinge on the fact that they denied me my full military leave benefits by attempting to compel me to complete work while on military leave (or make assignments due when I would be on military leave), then penalizing me with a bad personnel evaluation due to this, and using those evaluations and missed reports as grounds for my termination.

. . .so I'm hoping for a favorable verdict so this can be concluded instead of stretching on for years to come. I'm nervous though, but hopeful.

[Sandman]

Yeah.. They rule in your favor go USERRA on their tails

[Kiwi]

anything???

[silverstaff]

anything???

Here's what's going on with me.

Still nothing from the Personnel Board. I keep checking the mail every day for a letter from them with their ruling. A shade over a month now and nothing. Since today is ML King day, I know the mail doesn't run today, so nothing at least until Tuesday.

I do have some good news about employment at least. The police department I used to work as an Officer for, the one I resigned from to take my position with the agency that fired me? I had requested reinstatement to my old position. . .and they had been COMPLETELY silent, no rejection, no acceptance, not even an acknowledgment of my request.

I had turned the request in, by hand, to my old Lieutenant, so I knew they had received the request.

I had assumed they were being silent because I had a case before the Personnel Board, or that because I had been terminated by another law enforcement agency. I knew they had to know about my case before the Personnel Board because at my hearing with the state, they had a copy of my entire personnel file from that department, they had apparently subpoenaed it.

However, the timeframe in which I'm eligible for reinstatement at that PD closes at the end of February, and I contacted my old Lt. to ask what was going on, because if they were waiting until the case was over, and it wasn't ruled in my favor. . .it might be too late to reinstate me.

Apparently they lost my reinstatement request, that someone in their HR branch had retired only a week or so after I had requested reinstatement, and they had left the personnel paperwork a royal mess on their way out (he didn't elaborate as to how).

My old Lt. was rather emphatic that I get a new copy of my reinstatement request to him so they can file the paperwork to get me back with them before my window for reinstatement with them is closed. So, I printed out another copy of my request for reinstatement and handed it in on Friday.

Hopefully it wasn't for show and I'll actually get back with them.

The thing is, even if the Personnel Board ruled in my favor, I'd rather go with my old police department. I rather miss working for them. The main reason I left was that I had a Sergeant there who was making life rough on me. . .and he retired last month. I left, for the job with another agency (the one that fired me) because he was making life rough on me, and because the job with the agency would pay about $100 more a paycheck, be plainclothes, have a Monday to Friday schedule, and work closer to my home.

. . .those improvements did NOT balance out the much higher stress level though, and I've found myself nostalgic for working for my old police department. Ironically I had worked out with my old Lt. a schedule that was much more amenable right before I got the call to interview for the job with the other agency. Things would have probably got better at my old job if I hadn't taken the job with the new agency.

If the Personnel Board finds in my favor to reinstate me, and my old PD reinstates me, I'm going to see if I can essentially resign my reinstatement with the agency that fired me effective to when I was reinstated with my old PD. I wasn't happy with the job that fired me, I was just hanging on until I was off my probationary period and could transfer around to another job in state government (that's the big irony, that if they had just let me finish my probationary period that would have concluded at the end of that week, I would have quickly transferred out, and I would have long since been out of their hair.), and if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have taken the job with that agency. . .the stress was NOT worth the upsides of the job.

So. . .still waiting on word from the Board, but at least I have a good chance of at least being back to work within a month or so at a job I wouldn't mind.

[morgana]

Fingers crossed!

[Kiwi]

I'm waiting on tenter hooks. Any news??

[silverstaff]

I'm waiting on tenter hooks. Any news??

Still checking my mailbox every day waiting on word from the Personnel Board.

In my personal job hunt, I have good news about that reinstatement process with my old Police Department.

Last Tuesday, a week ago today, I got a call from a higher-up at the Department who wanted me to fill out personnel paperwork so they can process my reinstatement, so I rushed on that and had that to them the same day. I have a job interview with my state's emergency management agency on Friday, that I'm rather hopeful about.

I keep checking the mail every day waiting on word from the board. I'm on pins and needles.

Deep down, I'd rather get my old job back at my old PD or get the job with Emergency Management. . .but at least getting reinstated by the board would also give me a job, and a ruling in my favor should almost certainly include a very big payment of back salary.

[Catwoman2965]

And if it were me, also the satisfaction of knowing i did nothing wrong, and they did.

[silverstaff]

Big News, everyone!

I got a letter in the mail today from the state Personnel Board, dated February 3, 2016.

. . .I won.

They ruled that my termination was unlawfully violating my rights to not be terminated due to taking time off for military duties.

They also specifically threw out the state's arguments against me as "flawed", and "irrelevant" especially the state's legal argument that to enjoy the benefits of that law I would have to fully resign from my job every time I took military leave (yes, they tried to argue that), and the other various non-sequitur arguments they tried to use.

They state in the "Findings of law and recommended Order" that I be reinstated to my old agency with back pay and full seniority as if I never left.

From here, both parties have 15 days in which to request an "exception", which is to say they can request some caveat or addendum to the order, but the board doesn't have to take them into account. After the final order is given, the state would have then 30 days to file an appeal in courts (actual regular courts of law, not a state Administrative Board) over this, but they could only bring up issues that they listed as "exceptions" in their first filing.

So, big win for me. Now to see if the state is going to keep fighting this (and take it out of the relative obscurity of admin boards and into public record with a court case) or if I get my job back quickly.

[wildman]

That's fantastic news! Good Luck!