With that said, let's got for it. Let's start with the "at-will" law.
At-Will employment (right to hire and fire state law):
This one is pretty straightforward. You can be hired and/or fired at anytime for any reason, unless it is because of your race, religion, etc. So they can fire you for:
-Not speaking Spanish (even if you were not originally required to do so). This is VERY common.
-Boss doesn't like your new haircut.
-In Disney's case: you did not shave one day and that violated rules.
-Boss wants to save money and fires you.
-Boss hates your choice in ties and your belt is brown and you are wearing black shoes.
-Getting injured at work while performing daily duties (ver common too).
No reason needed, no reason given. Oh the FL law allows employers to deny you a reference. Lovely.
Unemployment insurance:
This one is pretty bad. Let's say you were fired for no real reason (which, believe me, the employer will come up with something, whether it is true or not).
-Let's say you are fired under the "at-will" laws above because your boss hates your new haircut or they are downsizing or whatever. You file for benefits and you have to wiat 30 days. That means 30 days without any income coming in.
-Once 30 days (from the date the unemployment office has sent the employer a letter notifying you filed for benefits) the employer will have a chance to fight your unemployment claim. If he comes up with a reason (ANY reason), there is pretty high chance you will be denied. If you get denied, then you have to appeal. Let's got for another 30 days of waiting for the boss to respond again. There will be a telephonic hearing with a hearing officer who really doesn't give a crap about you and how strapped for cash you are. If the haring goes well and the officer on the phone (who HOPEFULLY speaks some English) feels bad for you, then you will get some benefits from here on.
-Mind you, while this is going on, 60-days have elapsed. You have been looking for a job, as you don't want to work for Mickey D's and feel betrayed by your employer. Still 60-deays and not $1 received for being fired over nothing.
-Now here is the kicker. A lot of employers will come to you and say you will be fired. Then they will have two-weeks of pay in a check ready for you. But right before they make the offer, they will say something like "look, you take the two-weeks 'severance pay' and sign a paper saying you quit volunatrily and then we will give you a reference (mind you, they won't say a GOOD reference, just a reference)". This way you cannot file for unemployment or risk them giving your future employer a bad reference. So you feel pressured and take 2-weeks pay. Mind you, in FL the job market for anything paying more than $10 - $12 will be an uphill battle and you will probablky be unemployed for several months. Mind you, if you search the forum, you will find a ton of people who have been unemployed for several months (incuding one thread I saw called 'all I wnat for Christmas is a job'.
Work comp:
Now, here is the sickening one. Workman Compensation. This is when you are injured at work (regardless of employee or employer negligence).
-In FL, the law changed in such a way now that if an insurance company doesn't pay your benefits and you get a lawyer and sue for benefits, the insurance company does NOT have to pay for the attorney's fees (even though the insurance company is denying a benefit you have a RIGHT to). That is very unfair to workers who are penalized for asking of what is rightfully theirs. The employee has to pay
-Insurers are not paying people anything for 6 months because there is no reason for them to. They can just ignore the injured worker and not pay and then pay 1 day before 6 months. Now mind you, can ANYONE go 6 months without any income while injured??
-Let's say you are a NASA engineer and you make $100/h. Then we have a construction worker who makes $10/h. If the NASA engineer and the construction worker both lose their fingers in a work-related accident (say a desk feel on their fingers and crushed them) -the BOTH get the SAME EXACT AMOUNT OF COMPENSATION. How absurd is that??? Doesn't the NSA guy make 10x as much as the construction guy??
-Loss of earning capacity will only get you 104 weeks of benefits. That means if you are paralyzed at work, that is all you get. I am almost sure it's between 65% - 70% of your wage and there is a cap of how much you can collect per week (something like $700/week maximum).
Anyone who think the laws are fair to workers here are insane and need some pills and a nice chat with a shrink.
Welcome to FL. Enjoy working with no benefits, getting paid in Sunshine Dollars, and be viewed as crap.
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Publix
I don't know where you heard Publix is lowering wages but it is false. I work for Publix and have for the past 8 years in Payroll & Time Administration and know for a fact that is not so.
Part 1
Are you serious???
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