I worked as an insurance account rep for an agent that previously hired untrained help for little pay. I spent a lot of time e unraveling prior coverage errors. He spent a lot of time out of the office drinking, so I had full responsibility. We lost several accounts simply because we did not have the carriers to be competitive. He blamed it on me saying I was unfriendly to the clients. The reality is that I would not issue certificates the clients requested unless they actually had that coverage in force. My predecessor had issued anything the client asked for, not knowing any better. Thiscreated a lot of tension in the office and a hostile environment. The high level of stress caused me to collapse at work and resulted in a week's hospital stay, followed by a battery of outpatient tests. While I was in hospital, he notified me that he was reducing my hours by 50%, my pay rate by 35%, that I was losing my company insurance contribution, my desk was being moved to the storeroom, he changed the locks to the office and to my email, and that he would be personally handing me work assignments and that my assistant was now office manager, but I was not fired. I contacted Dept of Labor to discover that because the office was small, I was not covered by FMLA or EEO.
I returned to work under these new conditions, which he changed several times. I was still under medical care and had a Dr appt scheduled. That day he was out of office, as usual, but especially argumentive via phone and email. His last orders were that I should print out every document of every lost account to be scrutinized with after lunch. He ended this email with the quip "now that should be really interesting!!". I started printing out all of this info and just couldn't handle it anymore. I broke down crying and called my doctor, who advised to come in early. I clocked out and went home to have my husband take me to the appointment. I was hysterical, and I don't use my cell phone while driving. Once home and calmed down, I emailed him advising that my doc said to come in early, so I had left for the day and would be returning on my next scheduled work day if he had any actual work for me to do other than just degrade me. He emailed that I was fired. I applied for unemployment and was denied benefits because he said I walked off the job for no reason. I appealed and lost because the email I sent was 39 minutes later than I should have returned from lunch, and also because my remark about being degraded was unprofessional. My claim that his actions constituted constructive discharge were ignored. I need to appeal this again, as my home is in foreclosure, but I am not good at the confrontational argument, and I am emotionally and mentally exhausted. I cannot find an attorney to assist me because there is little to no money in this type of case. I did find 2 attorneys who would consider it, but he has been in court a lot and there would be conflicts of interests.
Does anybody have any advice for me? We are located in Missouri, in the St. Louis region. Thank you.