Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

Unfair and Abusive treatment by employer

I need to know which laws were broken by my recent former employer.

My situation: my employer severely understaffed our project. In order to meet deadlines, I had taken it upon myself to work long hours (80+ hours for 2 weeks then 100+ hours for the next 3 weeks - Note:I wasn�t compensated for the extra time). After the first two weeks into this, my fianc�e got sick outside the country, I let my superiors know 3 weeks in advance that I was going to visit my her; I didn�t send an email or write anything down but they didn�t voice any of objections. I even offered to work remotely while on travel.

My employer denied my request for leave, in a memo saying �any personal leave taken by any employee between now and the end of the month will be grounds for immediate termination�. I was told that if I still wanted to leave, they would rather see me resign as �it�s better than being fired� (for benefits, etc.). So, reluctantly, I handed in my resignation that same day. I found out that the next week, they let my colleague go on vacation with none of the consequences I faced!

I know that the situation is completely unfair, but I want to know, what it is about what they did is illegal.

Thanks for your help.


Asked on 10/15/04, 11:55 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

Re: Unfair and Abusive treatment by employer

If you worked more than 40 hours for your former employer in any given week in a position not classified as managerial or otherwise exempt from the requirement that the employer pay overtime under the FLSA(Fair Labor Standards Act), and, nevertheless, were not compensated for the overtime which you worked, this would be a prima facie violation of the Act previously referenced.

Beyond the possible violation mentioned above, I see nothing in the employer's conduct which you've described that would suggest a violation of either federal or state law.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a so-called employment-at-will jurisdiction where employees have few rights and protections unless they're working under a contract of employment which provides for such or a similar collective bargaining type of agreement.

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Answered on 10/16/04, 10:53 am


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