Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Notified of termination in 30 days
I was asked to come into the office today (Sunday), which is my day off, to meet with the VP of operations and Director of Customer Service to discuss my accounts. We discussed the accounts for 2 hours then they told me they were not happy with my performance. Reasons were: 1) $100,00 of billing was missed by me for this year, I started this position in May and took over billing in July. 2) I destroyed data on one of our web sites, I can only view data and download. 3)Did not respond to an e-mail for one of the VP's. 4)Bad attitude (they could not give me an example).

I have never been talked to or written up for my performance. They want me to stay on until 11/30 and then I will be terminated.

Can they do this? Also, I was classified as salary but did not make any major decission for the company and I have no employees reporting to me, do I have a claim for overtime?

Asked on 10/27/03, 12:37 am

2 Answers from Attorneys

Michael Kirschbaum Law Offices of Michael R. Kirschbaum

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Re: Notified of termination in 30 days

Unless you have a contract that says the employer can only terminate you for cause, employment can be terminated at the will of either party, even without any reason. You may not agree with the reasons given, but it is irrelevant unless they are using this as a pretext to cover for some illegal motive for wanting you fired. If you think this is the case, you should have your case reviewed by an employment law attorney in your area.

With regard to overtime, there are 3 primary exceptions to the requirement to pay overtime, generally referred to as "white collar" exemptions. These include, 1)professional employees, 2)managerial employees, and 3) administrative employees. Each category has its own definition, which I won't go into now, however, if you believe you do not fall into any of these categories, either discuss your case with an employment law attorney or go to the California Labor Commission and file a claim for all unpaid overtime hours you worked, including the time you met with them on Sunday.

Answered on 10/29/03, 12:30 pm

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