Well, I now have more time for pens, right?

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DurocShark

DurocShark

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
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3,622
Location
Anaheim, CA
Was fired today. Errr... forced to resign.

I was the only member of the department left that wasn't either an elder or a pastor, so when they found another who could work in IT (not as skilled as me, but she's cheaper), they showed me the door. The excuse given was I "wasn't detail oriented enough". :confused:

Turns out that churches don't pay unemployment. So when they asked for my resignation, I gave it. Would have been no benefit to me to fight.

Time to get cracking on the job hunt scene. Blech.
 
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Sorry Don. Also sorry you were treated this way by a church. That is never good. Please know, all of them aren't like that.
 
Very sorry to hear Don. I was in the same place this time last year. Employed now, but not as good a position as with the company I left so I'm still looking. Hang in there!
 
Sorry to hear of this Don, I pray your job search goes well. Being in IT myself, I know I could be in the same boat just about as quickly if they have a mind to do so.
 
Could be the best thing that's ever happened!? At least you have IT skills. I was "surplused" 2 1/2 years ago from a building materials company and haven't found been able to find "meaningful" employment, ... yet.

Just keep you chin up and turn lots of pens.....
 
Sorry Don, but I am in the same boat. I've been out for 8 months now. I believe my age has a lot to do with my unsuccessful job hunt, but I'm not giving up! Damn the Torpedoes!
 
Churches aren't required by law to pay into unemployment insurance. I didn't find out about this until I'd been working there long enough to bleed all my savings. (I took a 35% pay cut to work there.) By then it was too late. I was stuck. Oddly, the Catholic church pays into it anyway... But not the EPC.

Without a degree, this will be tough.

Thanks for all the well wishes folks!
 
+1 what Jim said

JimB said:
Sorry to hear that.

What does working for the Church have to do with collecting unemployment? That is run by the State.
Click to expand...

The fact that you were an employee of a church has no significance with regard to unemployment. They are required to pay the insurance. They don't get out of it because they're non-profit. Someone who wanted you to resign may have given you inaccurate information. I was in much the same situation as you with a church run Nursing Home. They forced me out for someone cheaper and younger and tried to get out of unemployment by saying they would only give me a good reference if I resigned and took a severance. The severance didn't come anywhere near what the unemployment did. Trust me...register with the unemployment office. Even if you don't get it, register anyway. You may find that their tactics were misguided and there may be some other remedy.

Finding a decent IT job when you have a few years on you is difficult to say the least. You'll interview with young upstarts who will write you off before they even finish with the questions. They think the fact that you can remember a time before DOS existed is a bad thing rather than realizing that you learned the stuff from the ground up so you know the real world ways to make things work.

The main thing is to take something...anything (help desk) temporarily so that you don't have a lapse in your work history. It will be less money but it will help you to get that better position that you'll be looking for. I made the mistake of insisting on the better paying positions and I've gone a very long time without work. It's very easy to find yourself in a position where you're too old to get hired and too young to retire.
 
I was told back on Feb. 1 that my teaching contract would not be renewed. Then I got to work for 4 more months while the guy that screwed me over smiled and asked how my pregnant wife and son with medical issues were doing. I know where you're coming from. I was forced to resign also. Hope we can both find something before too long. Good luck, at least you know where to find good friends.
 
Sorry to hear that. Prayers coming your way.

Sometimes churches can be cruel.
 
Geppetto said:
JimB said:
Sorry to hear that.

What does working for the Church have to do with collecting unemployment? That is run by the State.
Click to expand...

They think the fact that you can remember a time before DOS existed is a bad thing rather than realizing that you learned the stuff from the ground up so you know the real world ways to make things work..
Click to expand...

Dang...someone else who knows what CP/M is?
 
Geppetto said:
JimB said:
Sorry to hear that.

What does working for the Church have to do with collecting unemployment? That is run by the State.
Click to expand...

The fact that you were an employee of a church has no significance with regard to unemployment. They are required to pay the insurance. They don't get out of it because they're non-profit.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it's true:

http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/fired-do-church-employees-get-unemployment-benefits said:
The federal act was amended in 1970 "to exempt service performed in the employ of a church … or an organization which is operated primarily for religious purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled or principally supported by a church," says Hammar.
All 50 states have employment laws implementing the federal mandatory minimum standards of coverage. States are free to expand their coverage beyond the federal minimum. Nearly every state unemployment tax law exempts churches by excluding "services performed in the employ of a church" from the definition of employment, according to Hammar.
Click to expand...

The IT director "laid off" several people in the department to make room for the other pastor-types. They all went through the same thing, "Whaddya mean I don't get unemployment?!?!?!?!" One was able to play the race card and got a job elsewhere in the church. The rest were SOL.

I knew in the back of my mind this was coming, but I didn't believe it in my heart. I should have... I'm darn good at what I do, and ran critical systems (firewall, web filter, backups, virtualization, etc) so felt safe. The wife and I are members of that church. My wife is super-volunteer, and even ran the decorations for this past VBS. (I find it suspicious that they did this immediately after VBS was over. Hmmm...)

She's pulling out of the church now for doing this to me/us. She's being super supportive, but is seriously angry. And she is NOT a person I'd want angry at me... :eek:
 
Don, I know how not fun this is. I think the power of the pen may be your friend here, not tat way but get with someone at the local paper and get a story out about how the church isn't taking approprite care of the people who work so hard to make it what it is. You never know, they may make it right.
 
What is really sad is when the HR meeting was done, and everybody was all "this is so hard, we're sorry. It's not that you did anything wrong or illegal...", we went back to my office. I offered to walk through the systems I'm in charge off so the transition can go smoothly.

"Why would you do that?"

Because it's not right to screw everybody because I've been let go.

"But you're not being paid extra for this."

So?

"I wouldn't do it."

And that's the difference between you and me. Now do you want this or not?

They accepted and were duly in awe of my professionalism. Burning bridges serves nobody. Yeah, I would have loved to go off on them, but all that would do is guarantee a craptacular reference. So I swallowed my pride, cloaked myself in "professionalism", and (hopefully) left them wondering if maybe they had made a mistake.
 
Believer!

Sorry to hear about your situation. I am a firm believer---that even attorneys are necessary sometimes. Many churches have a TON of money. And some treat people terribly! You need to think what it may be like when you haven't been employed for a year or so. If they're going to run it like a business, treat them like a business!
 
Sorry to hear but you're not alone. I was also in IT and went through the same thing last year. My advice is the same. Make pens.
 
Sorry to hear but you're not alone. I was in IT and it happened to me last year.
Don't believe what they told you. Just believe in yourself and move on. Good luck.
 
DurocShark said:
Churches aren't required by law to pay into unemployment insurance. I didn't find out about this until I'd been working there long enough to bleed all my savings. (I took a 35% pay cut to work there.) By then it was too late. I was stuck. Oddly, the Catholic church pays into it anyway... But not the EPC.

Without a degree, this will be tough.

Thanks for all the well wishes folks!
Click to expand...

Don,
My son doesn't have a degree either, but he's never at much of a loss for work... he's a programmer though, not an IT tech... He was a project manager for IBM for 5 years, but got fed up with the company politics... he's with another company now and thinking about starting his own company... A good IT tech is hard to find... I'm sure you'll have not trouble finding another position... hang in there and keep the faith.
 
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