State child care workers un-resign

Contract employees working for the state Department of Special Education Child Care and Development program got a shock Tuesday when they were asked to sign letters of resignation weeks ahead of their program's June 30 termination time.

  Employees speaking on the condition of anonymity say they were led to believe they were meeting individually with a human resources representative, but instead were greeted by a benefits counselor, who encouraged them to sign their resignation papers early.

  They signed, but also called employment experts, who informed they that by resigning they would not be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. They immediately returned and demanded to rescind their resignations.

  "We knew there was something sneaky about it," one employee said. "It was just not right."

  A resignation, they were told, would also have prevented them from being placed on a rehire list as a laid off employee. They would give up their seniority.