Getting fired because of an illegal

Question

Usually I do not have a problem with illegals, but one of my friend was fired from her long time job, because she didn't want to work with one of them. Her boss said to my friend, she had a bad attitude, wasn't a team player. My friends' husband is very mad, he wants to call immigration on the whole workplace.( A lot of illegals work there, cheap labor!) He has no idea what number to call and what to say, but he insist he will do it.

I do not want take part, but I really feel sorry for my friend; she lost her job, her boss refused to pay off her 22 day accumulated vacation time, never was good time to let her take it! She worked for years for them, on time, never called in sick, overtime, 7 days when they needed it, and now, this is the end(?!).

I really need some advice for her case, they have a lot of to pay and now they have only one income. She said she would be OK with unemployment for a while, if she can get one, until she finds a job.

Thank you for every encouraging advise, I don't want her to do something stupid!

Answer 1

Remember this person is your friend and you are getting her side of the story only.  How do you know for sure that there are illegals working for the company?.  Do you or your friend have access to the personnel files?   Does your friends company pay vacation if the employee is terminated?  A lot  of companies hire people from other nations that have valid work visas and maybe your friend thinks they are illegal but they are not.  A lot of disgruntled employees want to call anyone who will listen, however you hit the nail on the head when you said the boss implied that your friend had a bad attitude since she wants to call immigration.  I would make sure that there are illegals working there before I called immigration.  You could have the place shut down for the investigation and could cause problems for the employer if this is just a ploy for revenge.   What about the other workers who  are just doing their jobs.

Answer 2

If she was fired because she refused to work with other people then the employer had the right to terminate her job. You aren't allowed to pick and choose who your co-workers are, even if you have opinions about their immigration status. If she tries to sue the company because of the termination she would most likely lose the case. It's called insubordination to refuse to work. If her husband wants to call up immigration to report the company he is fine to do so, but understand that they do not take annonymous complaints, or annonymous reports. He will have to give her name and information to them so the company and her former co-workers may find out it was her who turned in the company and could cause the others to lose their jobs if the company is shut down. He would call up your local county office of immigration and naturalization

Answer 3

You'd have to make sure they where illegals before you called them illegals.

Answer 4

Just a few thoughts...if she lives in California, that state is an "at will" state, meaning a person can be fired at will for no real reason.  Secondly, it is illegal for employers to hire illegal aliens and can be fined or sanctioned for doing so.  Your friend may want to talk to a lawyer.

Answer 5

do it.  don't let them illegals have her job.  sounds to me like they wanted to replace her with a cheap illegal anyways.  

Answer 6

I don't know much about this topic but it sounds like she was fired for discrimination.  However, who knows how having illegal employees would effect the situation.

Answer 7

When she files for unemployment, she needs to have a talk with the case worker in person.  Advise her to go to the unemployment office to speak with the case worker.  It sounds as if she'll have a fight on her hands with the unemployment.  The former employer can fight it, claiming she didn't perform her duties and was fired as a result -- or claiming something else like HER discrimination against another coworker's race.  The unemployment case worker will have the information he/she needs to fight the former employer's denial of unemployment, which he CAN do if his claims are legitimate.  I believe that THIS is the right course of action rather than the husband taking the law into his hands.  If she has the backing of the state's unemployment office, she's far more likely to receive unemployment AND to do what is legal with the former employer wrongfully terminating her AND having illegal workers on his staff.  

I wish her (and you) the best of luck.