I posted a (mostly) more professional-sounding and more detailed account on r/legaladvice because I'm fucking fed up but I wanted to hop here to vent too lmao
I work at a private company in the Houston, TX area caring for adults with intellectual disabilities, with no union because of course we don't have a fucking union 😀 Almost half a year ago, a coworker accused me of hitting a resident, which led to an investigation by HHSC (or APS). You'd think that'd be a huge deal, because it should be, but it's not because people tend to call each other in to get each other “put out” from work to be petty. That also should be a bigger deal than it is, but it has to be so egregiously and obviously bullshit that they can't ignore it for them to punish anyone for false reporting.
The scheduling lead was so kind to unceremoniously text me that I was suspended and to answer any calls from this number, which was the number the investigator would call from. I waited around for three weeks before I got back in touch with the investigator and asked for an update, and she told me I actually had been cleared over a week earlier. I pestered my manager several times over the following weeks, but every time it was “we're waiting for the goahead from HQ' and 'I'll call you as soon as I hear anything.'
One month went by, then two, then in the middle of the third, HR randomly deigned to email me asking me to pay them back for my insurance for the last two months and so very kindly giving me detailed instructions on all the ways I can send them money. I replied, obviously completely blindsided, saying (muuuuch more nicely and professionally, ofc ;)) that this was never discussed nor was I ever given a choice but that wasn't happening, especially not while I'm out of work, so what's the deal with that anyway? Go figure she ignored it and the resend a week later.
Now, I had always been told that if you get called in, you're just shit outta luck because you can't apply for unemployment while you're being investigated by HHSC for abuse. But I wasn't being investigated. Considering it was the state of Texas that cleared me, I figured there's no reason the state of Texas should think I was suspended for disciplinary or performance reasons of my own doing, so I said fuck it and applied for unemployment. That has been just as obnoxious. They made me wait for the second filing date to finally confirm my ID, and I'm still awaiting confirmation on whether they will actually process my payment. They have also ignored the two emails I've sent asking as to how to pursue back pay, which is the part I seriously want to get the ball moving on!
Earlier this week, I discovered that the same coworker called back a second time within the first week of me being gone to say she remembered another time I 'hit someone' in front of her. HHSC, with a different investigator, apparently lost the case and just noticed it was sitting open after nearly six months. This investigator cleared me on Thursday morning. My following attempts to communicate with my workplace have also been ignored. 😀
I've literally had to rack up about $10K in debt over the last half year just to get by, almost entirely because of this bullshit. I'm doing part-time work while I go to class, but holy fuck. Obviously several people fucked up in several different ways and levels of severity on several different occasions, and did so while demanding I do everything promptly and perfectly at all times or else, and I've been doing it yet still get to bear the the consequences of everyone else's slip-ups. I like the new job a lot but I've had multiple panic, anxiety and anger attacks over the last two weeks between my obligations and being just so fed up with there always being something else to throw onto the pile with this whole mess lmao