You need to fix this.
You need to call the Labor Board and report what he has done to you, the fact that you were pushed out for being pregnant and that he has done this to past employees to favor male employees.
You need to write a firmly worded but polite letter to the Appeals Board for Employment Security and basically explain to them that this man, who has been reported for conducting business in a manner which unfairly favors the male sex and for pregnancy discrimination, pushed you out because you were pregnant and didn't even try to pretend that it was for any other reason and that he said he would allow you the courtesy of being able to collect unemployment and that now he is going back on his word. You need to include in this letter to them, copies of your most recent utilities and mortgage statement. The top page of this stack of utilities/statements should be a cover page which summarizes all the bills you pay in a spreadsheet format, with the name of the company on the left column....and then how much you pay them on the right column....all of the monthly figures added up at the bottom....and then that total number compared to your husbands monthly income. I would make the spreadsheet in excel format, were I you, make it EXTREMELY "at-a-glance" simple and staple the cover sheet to the top page of the few bills you put there. I know that all seems like a lot...but you only get one shot to make a real impression with the appeals board. Kill a gnat with a sledgehammer. I'm serious...it seems like "oh, they don't care, it's silly to include that stuff, no one will even look at it" - don't think this way. It takes the right person making up their mind that you are a poor pregnant lady who was pushed out for being pregnant to make this all go much easier on you. You stand a real fighting chance in this appeal...go for sympathy. If you need help with any single part of that or all of it, let me know, I'm TOTALLY in to help you.
Honey, had I been you, given his other antics with female employees, I would have said "fuck you, fire me you prick" (in a nicer way than that!) and let him try and come up with a reason. On that very same day, fired or not, I would probably have gone ahead and filed a a report with the labor board, before he had the chance to start "not having enough hours for me" (had I not been fired). Me no likey when people hire females and then treat them like shit because they secretly dislike employing them. If you have a problem with chicks, hire dudes. Period.
I would follow up my visit to the Labor Board with a letter to them thanking them for their time. I would end that letter with something like this sentence:
I served my employer loyally and he repaid me with dishonesty and callous indifference. He has done more than break the law here. He left a woman with two kids, more bills than she can afford and a bulging belly out in the streets to try and find new employment in time to avoid financial catastrophe. Please help me make this right. I watched him do this to female employees in the past and I didn't speak out because I felt it wasn't my business...now I have to wonder, if I'd acted then to stop him, would I be facing such a grim situation?
I would follow up my trip and subsequent letter to the Labor Board, with a letter to the ex employer, that goes something like this:
Dear Mr. Dickface (what, I don't know his name! ;):
I have been notified by the Unemployment office that you mistakenly reported the nature of my departure from your work place as "quit for no reason" instead of "laid off". I'm absolutely certain this must be some oversight on your part...perhaps too much time had elapsed when you filled out the form they sent you and you forgot what happened...or maybe you were thinking of someone else. If you review my personnel file, I'm sure you will be dismayed to discover that you have indeed made a mistake, as you will find in my file no evidence of any notice being given by me at any time. In fact, if you review your own memory, you will remember the great distress my being fired for my pregnancy left me in, given my financial situation...and the fact that, perhaps out of pity, you agreed not to just fire me, but instead to report me as "laid off" so that I could collect unemployment.
I am sure that if you contact the appeals division of the Unemployment Department for the state, they will happily adjust the findings of the review committee, so that I am not left out walking the streets to find new employment with a huge belly and more bills to pay for than I can possibly cover without bringing in some sort of money. It has been very hard for me to find new employment in my condition and I genuinely need the income that unemployment was providing me in the mean time.
I appreciate that mistakes happen...I look forward to hearing of your plan to remedy this mistake and am available to you at any time to provide any information you may need to complete my personnel file and/or amend the paperwork submitted with the Unemployment Department.
Many thanks,
Me
I would cc the Appeals Board on the letter sent to the ex boss.Then, I would follow up my letter/appeal form to the Appeal Board with a phone call to their office asking about the process, giving a *bit* of sob story if the person seems open to listening and reiterating that you are available to provide anything further that they should need. Mention that a formal complaint has been lodged with the Labor Board for discrimination (don't mention when, if they don't ask) and slip in there that this has happened before to other females working for him and is an ongoing problem with this employer.
This has to be made right. It's bullshit. I'm serious about helping you if you need help.
Get it figured out, mama.
He made a mistake when he told them that you quit. You can prove AS MUCH AS YOU HAVE TO...that you didn't quit, because you didn't sign anything that said that, write that to him or leave it on an answering machine or anything. If he was trying to punk on you like this, he would have been better off trying to say he fired you for rudeness to customers and excessive absenteeism or whatever. Saying you quit, was admitting that he didn't have cause to fire you. Now he has to prove that you quit, because you're saying you didn't and have a crummy enough financial situation that you can make the case that quitting was insane and the people on the board will find that plausible. Remember, in a case like this, you don't really have to PROVE anything, you just have to make the people sitting on the Appeals Board pretty sure that you're telling the truth. He can't prove what he is asserting....you can't really prove what he is asserting...you need to come out looking like the person most likely to be telling the truth. That means being proactive and getting on top of this.
