Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

employee rights

I got laid off in April from a company because sales numbers were down, I worked in purchasing. I also had worked in Customer Service for the company before moving to purchasing. My old boss called and said they were going to post a job opening for Customer Svc on Craigs list and let me know that they wanted to hire at a much lower rate than what i was making when i was laid off. I let them know when they laid me off that i would be interested in a customer svc position if one became available. They did not offer me a salary for the current job opening. Is that legal? I was a very good employee with lots of experience.


Asked on 7/18/09, 11:45 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: employee rights

I don't see anything illegal going on from what you have posted here. Unless you have an employment contract, or are part of a collective bargaining agreement, that provides otherwise, they are not required to offer you that position. I don't know much about your company, but it is possible that other people are being laid off, or have been laid off in the past few months, who might also qualify for that position, and they want to give everyone a chance. Your employer also has a right to interview other applicants and hire the most qualified person who will work for the wages offered.

You probably already know this, but under the facts you have given here, you do definitely qualify for unemployment compensation, and you should go ahead and apply for that right away, even if you think you might get the other position.

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Answered on 7/18/09, 1:00 pm


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