Location: Suffolk County, NY
Boss terminated my employment yesterday because earlier this week I asked for the next week off to pursue a rare opportunity and she agreed to let me do it. I also made arrangements to make my absence as seamless as possible and prepare everyone else to cover me. I thought this was something I could do based on this clause in my agreement:
“BENEFITS. Working as an independent contractor as an [REDACTED] team member with [REDACTED] teaching methods, dances, philosophy and materials is essential as it gives our teaching artists the ability to pursue professional careers in the performing arts and have work with us as [REDACTED] Teaching Artists upon return. We do ask for as much notice as possible when booked for a show – however [REDACTED] understands the nature of auditions and shows.”
I am paid on a weekly salary, but additionally compensated for work done outside of work hours.
After a heated discussion regarding my pay (she refused to pay me for work I did outside of work hours or reimburse me for expenses she had agreed to pay for due to my absence), I asked her if I could return after my week off and she shook her head no. I’m not sure if this technically still constitutes as a termination if she didn’t say anything.
Normally this isn’t an issue, but all contractors lived in her house and I was scheduled to do that the whole summer. This meant I had 2 hours to pack up my place and leave and has left me without a place to stay for the rest of summer.
Do I have any protections at all in this case? And can I consider myself officially terminated if she never said anything to that effect?
Comments
You are saying “boss” and “employment” and “salary” but those are terms for W-2 work, not 1099 work. It’s fine to terminate you, but you may have been misclassified which is a form of tax fraud and benefits fraud. What sort of work was it?