I was let go from my job a month ago for attendance. I won't lie, I was late a lot, but with reason. I lost my license and was relying on a coworker to get back and forth to work. He had to take care of his son in the morning for school, go through 2 school zones to get to me, then another after he picked me up, then the highway. So any little thing would set us back a few minutes. They had an attendance system there that they never followed. Late so many times, you get a verbal warning, then written, then suspension, then fired. Well I've only ever been written up or talked to several times.

Not only that, there was a 3rd guy who was always late also. I don't know how he did it, but he got the company to give him an HOUR leeway to come into work. Meaning he could show up from 7:30 to 8:30. And most of the time, he was late past 8:30. I asked him maybe a week before I got fired if they ever said anything to him, he said no.

So we asked for a 10 minute leeway (my ride and I) and they said no... That was issue #1. And I apologize now because I have a feeling this will be long.

Issue #2. I took a week of vacation. The very first day of it, I got a call from a friend at work. He said that he was told (didn't overhear) but told to his face from the boss, that I was fired. Not only did I not receive any kind of message like that from an official, but he told another normal employee that I was fired first.

Issue #3. While I was on vacation, I got a voicemail on Friday (I took vacation from Monday to Friday) saying to call the boss because he has something he wanted to talk about. He didn't give any details, but I pretty much knew. So I called and got his voicemail. I tried a few more times and never heard anything. The following Monday I went in and was told I was let go. I signed my termination papers and left.

When I got home, I looked at the exact dates. According to their paperwork, I was given my 3rd and final write up on a day I was on vacation!!! How could I have gotten a write up when I wasn't even there???

So my question is, was any of the illegal or just shady (yet legal) business practice? Reason being, I filed for unemployment. I got it right off the bat. My ex-employer appealed the UE office decision and lost. I don't know if they are going to keep pushing it, but I am sure they'll appeal that decision.

If they do push more, I want to be able to push back and file a lawsuit against them for the reasons stated above. I am not big on suing people, but they treated us all like crap for years (would of left if finding a new job would be easy without being able to drive...). And like I said, if they fight, I want to be able to hit them back, hard.

Please advise