Employment

Enter your question here...I was terminated from my job on Jan 28, 2011. A couple months later I requested my profit sharing be distributed to me( I am 100% vested). I was going to keep my 401 with the company for a while but needed some funds to help with bills. I was told I had to take both according to their rules. So then I requested a partial distribution of the 401k and the balance of my profit sharing to me. I am aware of the rules about taxes, penalties, etc. On April 4th I sent over my distribution papers properly filled out and heard nothing. two weeks later I called and starting getting the run-around. I was told I had to wait until the 3/31/2011 funding was done and then I could get the money. So I waited, and gave them a sufficient time to get that done. When I called again towards the end of April I was told the 12/31/2011 funding had just been completed. So I asked if I could go ahead and get the funds up to that date, and was told there are no partial distributions allowed per IRS rules, and I would have to wait. Since I requested the funds long before they will ever do the 3/31/2011 funding(it seems to take them 3-4 months to do so-I feel I should be sent the money now. They refuse. I think they will try to keep my funds, or devalue them in some way since I only worked 28 days past the end of the year. Is this legal and does the IRS have this rule? I cannot find anything on-line about this matter. Please advise. Thank You.

I was hired as an independent contractor and signed a contract. I worked 2 weeks and then they asked me not to work until further notice because they had some errors and they needed to check them out (they asked everyone - 2 others- not to work also) It has now been a week without any other contact or explanation. I have to give a 30-day notice if I want to quit, and they are not giving me any work at all without any explanation. I signed a contract for the security of pay, and I have since found out that I am really an employee and not an IC (through research of this fiasco). I am wondering if I have any legal rights in this situation.

Is hazard pay required in Massachusetts? Particularly with body fluid and human waste clean up.

Recently I received a very harsh email from a member of my company's senior management. This email was offensive in nature due to the language and context, I felt as if I was berated, chastised, and stereotyped in a negative manner. Additionally, there were several perceived threatening references, which given the highly negative nature of the email itself, I concluded that my job was at risk. This has occurred several times before from this same individual, as well as, directed to other employees who work for this manager. My prior instances were not reported to my employer's HR Dept, also in email form, but this instance has been reported to my HR Dept. My employer's stance is that no harassment occurred, but rather has indicated that this is a form of hostile work environment. I believe that they are working to resolve this situation, but I also have some additional fears. Mainly, because Georgia being an 'At-Will' state and since the corporation I'm employed with is an Asian company, the senior member who emailed me is also Asian, and I'm a Caucasian American. Additionally, my direct supervisor and our CFO, to whom the HR Dept. reports to, also both Asian, were mostly interested to tell me that this was not a form of harassment rather than providing me some assurance that this behavior will not happen again. I'm not looking to go to court, but rather I am interested to know how to protect myself, keep my job, and what rights I have.

Is it legal to reduce the salary of a bookkeeper of a small corporation by 10% or 20% if the hours per week is reduced by the same percentage. Gross receipts are down by about 50% and the President and Vice-President have been unable to take any pay for the last year. The company has been losing money for more than a year.