Q: i went a furlough back in March, My furlough letter states that i would keep my seniority with the company.
i went a furlough back in March, My furlough letter states that i would keep my seniority with the company. They called me to go back to work but someoone else is doing my job my tittle was accounting assistant i was in charge of Payroll now i'm doing little administrative duties and HR fuctions i also found out the the person that is doing my job they are paying her way less of that they pay me. i thought i was supposed to go back doing my regular duites , they also brought me back with less hours that i used to work before. Can they do that?
A:
Most people do not know this, but a furlough is the exact same thing as a termination in the eyes of the law if the furlough is for more than the length of the pay period. Your employer can state an intention to bring you back, but that is not an enforceable right. If the employer wants to bring you back it can, and it does not have to bring you back to the same position or the same pay. Unless you can prove you were treated this way because of your membership in a protected class of people or because you engaged in some form of legally protected conduct, you really are not going to have a legal claim to make.
Good luck to you.
A:
I agree with Neil's analysis. It does not sound like you were denied your seniority, it sounds like you have retained your seniority, but were assigned to work in another area. Having a "seniority" system kind of cuts against being an "at-will" employee because it indicates when you have reached a certain level of seniority that you don't get discharged except for "cause." At-will means no cause is needed. I guess you could be both at-will and have a seniority system, but this would be rare. Also, seniority systems are unusual outside of Union shops.
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