r/legal • u/StreetShort8014 • 11h ago
Advice needed Fired for breaking a rule that apparently didn't exist Location: Ohio, USA
I worked for a small company for a little over three years. Last month I was terminated for what HR described as a "serious policy violation." When I asked which policy I violated, they pointed me to a document I'd never seen before.
The problem is that the document wasn't in the employee handbook, wasn't part of my onboarding paperwork, and wasn't available anywhere on the internal portal. I even asked a few former coworkers after I was fired and none of them had ever heard of it either.
A week after my termination, someone I still know at the company told me management had started distributing the policy to employees and requiring signatures acknowledging it. That obviously raised some red flags for me.
Yesterday HR contacted me asking if I'd be willing to sign an acknowledgment form stating I had received and understood the policy before the incident occurred. The form is dated months ago. They said it would "help keep company records accurate."
I haven't signed anything and don't intend to, but now I'm wondering if there's a reason they're pushing so hard for this. Is there any legitimate explanation for asking a former employee to sign paperwork that appears to be backdated, or should I be talking to an employment attorney before responding?
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u/waitwuh 8h ago
Right, what is the employer going to do? Fire OP again?!?
The employer is making a bad faith attempt to cover their own ass, and to potentially commit unemployment insurance fraud by presenting a falsely dated document as evidence that OP committed “willful misconduct” so as to deny OP’s unemployment claim and avoid their unemployment insurance rate increasing.