How do I fight an employer who says I abandoned my job when I was terminated?

I received a phone call late in the evening advising me that I had two options, either today could be my last day of employment, or I could put in a two week notice, which I would not be permitted to work out, so either way you looked at it I was being forced to resign. She had my personal belongings at her house, which I picked up that evening, and that was that. Disturbed by the way the situation was handled I immediately drafted a letter the the Human Resources department stating that I had been terminated by my supervisor via a phone conversation, and requested written documentation of termination. I emailed the drafted letter to HR that night, and sent a registered certified copy the next morning. I heard nothing for over a week, then today I got a registered letter in the mail from them stating I had not been terminated, but rather abandoned my job!! I'm furious!!! How can I fight this?? Can I fight this! Will I even be eligible for unemployment now? HELP!

You need to find a wrongful termination attorney. Most people will tell you that you probably live in an " at will " state. They gave a reason for terminating you when they told you that you had options. " At will " went out the window when you was given an option.

Trust me, talk to an attorney. The company will settle with you because they are going to lose $$$thousands fighting you. I had a company to give me 30K for basically the same thing. They laid me off and then said I quit. I got an attorney and it was settled in about 3 months. I got 20K all together and the lawyer got 10K, but if I never hired an attorney, I wouldn't have gotten a dime.

Make those calls tomorrow and write down times when you spoke to the company, what they said, what they did, what you did, what you said, etc etc and have them handy, you will need them.

Good Luck

P.S. As for unemployment, tell them you were terminated from your position. If the company protests, file an appeal with the administrative law judge. The law judge will then make the decision on who was right and who was wrong. If he decides in your favor, you will most definately have a case against the company for wrongful termination, mental and emotional anguish, possible discrimination, selective process of an employee, bad faith clause.

Tell everything to unemployment and be consistent as they will keep asking you. I had an employer once fire me because my back went out, every time unemployment contacted them they gave a different answer, my answer was always consistent, so I got the unemployment.

Yep. Get a lawyer: you have a proof that you were terminated on a specific day (the e-mail w/time and date and the certified letter receipt). If you have a timecard or something showing that you were working up to the day when you got a phone call, you can prove that there was no abandonment (no lapse of time between your working time and the time of termination). As a law student, I advise you to get a lawyer with the expertise in employment law/discrimination (you might have a discrimination suit pending too: age/sex/race/disability/color/national origin/religion, etc.), they will be able to draft a complaint and if there is enough evidence, you can not only recover unemployment, but get a settlement/recover damages from your former employer. (about the fees: your lawyer will most likely not charge you up front, but take out approximately 30-40% of the money you get out of the law suit - this is a pretty good deal for you if there is enough stuff for you to proceed b/c you can actually get money from your ex-employers)