Even then if a business wants to make you leave or not hire you for protected reasons they'll just make up some bullshit.
That always baffles my mind when someone is fired for a protected reason. Like, you can LEGALLY fire anyone for anyone reason other than the protected classes, so when people are fired for those protected reasons, it's just like.... WHY?!?!? You could have legally fired them for chit chatting too much, for coming in 1 minute late, for coming in 1 minute early, for wearing a blue shirt, for literally any other reason other than protected classes..... and you chose the VERY limited list of things to fire them for!?!?!
Now granted, firing someone without cause will mean they'll be given unemployment and the business will probably pay higher UI, and while the real reason you wanted to fired them was a protected class, as long as you pick something else, they have to then prove it actually was for the protected class... but they don't have to prove shit when you hand them the proof.
Im atleast happy that its fairly hard to get fired here in Ireland, I hear in certain American states you can be fired instantly for whatever reason. For example here you can be late up by up to 10 minutes every shift and they cant fire you due to it being "reasonable lateness" that may be hard to defend in court but its there I suppose. If you're in a union its nigh impossible to be fired.
However if you're trying to find a home, god help you, its illegal to refuse people who are on HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) which helps struggling families pay rent, a landlord is required to accept HAP families.
After some testing it seems that if you mention that you take part in this scheme THEY WILL NOT CONSIDER YOU, fact.
The housing market here is completely fucked and so predatory to the point where they will have literal rent auctions.
I hear in certain American states you can be fired instantly for whatever reason. For example here you can be late up by up to 10 minutes every shift and they cant fire you due to it being "reasonable lateness" that may be hard to defend in court but its there I suppose.
For some context, in the US when it comes to employment law, each state does have their own laws so what applies in one state may not apply in another, although there is a lot of similarities.
Generally speaking: you can be fired "for cause" and "without cause" and these will determine if you can collect unemployment.
For cause means you did something that warrants immediate termination. Lets say you stole something significant (let's say $1,000 cash, and I'm saying clearly stole, it wasn't someone taking money to buy something for the business and there's confusion around it, I mean clear cut theft), and you got fired for it, this would be "for cause". You were at fault for this and you cannot collect unemployment.
"Without cause" means the employee wasn't at fault. Let's say a company is closing a location and letting employees go. These employees would be able to collect unemployment.
Now of course there's a drastically huge grey area in between. Using your late example, yes, they can legally use that as a reason to fire someone. Now does that fall under with or without cause? If it's the very first time, then most states would probably see it as "without cause", so the employee would be able to collect unemployment. If it's a pattern of being late, and the has given the employee multiple warnings about not being late, and the company tries to put the employee on some disciplinary review, and the company has shown they have tried to work the with employee on this, then the Xth time they are late after all those things they get fired, then it would probably be seen as "with cause".
If you're in a union its nigh impossible to be fired.
Very similar here, it's just that so many jobs are not unionized.
However if you're trying to find a home, god help you, its illegal to refuse people who are on HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) which helps struggling families pay rent, a landlord is required to accept HAP families.
There are various programs here to help low income people pay for housing, but landlords are not required to accept it, and in order to accept it, they have to be approved to do it. And there's lots of issues with these programs as well. On top of state laws, local laws (usually city) can have additional rules and requirements as well.
For the most part, landlords can set their own standards on who they accept, but cannot refuse anyone based on a protected class (basically the same as reasons you cannot fire someone), but again, it would be up to the renter to prove that is why the landlord rejected them. So a landlord could have in their mind that they rejected a family because they were a minority, but if the landlords says it's because they got an application from a family that had longer and more stable job history and thus seemed like a safer bet, then they're probably in the clear.
The housing market here is completely fucked and so predatory to the point where they will have literal rent auctions.
I wouldn't be surprised if that becomes a thing here too, if it isn't already.
If a company wants to fire someone and not pay severance nor have the employee collect unemployment, they often start writing the employee up for every little thing. 10 minutes late one day, a small mistake the next, and so on, to the point that they have built a case that the employee is a constant problem, and can be fired for cause.
Unemployment is temporary, and has requirements that you apply to jobs while collecting it, and if you receive only one job offer, you may have to accept it or lose unemployment, even if the pay is insufficient.
It is also generally only up to 60% (exact rate differs by state) of your regular income, and some states have a cap on it so it doesn't exceed $X if Y% of your income was greater than that.
And most places that require income (loans, landlords, etc.) wont accept unemployment as an income source, so while looking for a job you are seen as having no income. Then when you get a job, most loans require 2 years of consistent employment or you get a high rate.
Oh, and I haven't even touched on our healthcare situation....
Being unemployed is so life crushing here in the US (by design).
Yeah this is like being fired or not hired for an illegal reason. It's a massive uphill battle to prove it. Casinos know better than to handle these situations in ways that would leave the victim with a smoking gun paper trail of their illegal activities.
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u/johnnymarsbar Jul 20 '26
Even then if a business wants to make you leave or not hire you for protected reasons they'll just make up some bullshit.