Any attorney's in the house?

brettw22

I have an employment question.......

F1nut

Sue.

cfrizz

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! Oh you're a lot of help there Jesse!:D

F1nut

Hey, that's an attack on my character, I'm suing.

rskarvan

You're fired !

Kris Siegel

Why not explain your question? I'm not an attorney but I know many and I'm not half bad at searching through laws

TroyD

Take the fifth.

If it's a fifth of Beam, so much the better. If it isn't, take it anyway.

BDT

PolkThug

brettw22 wrote:

I have an employment question.......

Are you exempt or non-exempt?

danger boy

F1nut wrote:

Sue.

Jesse's advice cost is what.. $350/hr?

MacLeod

C'mon now! I cant believe nobody has come up with a sexual harrasment joke yet!

Where is Russ when you need him?!

PolkThug

If you are a victim of "bad touch", please contact the law offices of P-Thuggy, Barnes & Noble.

danger boy

did the bad man touch you down there? LOL

Strong Bad

Grab the first available flight to Tibet and live in the mountains with the monks (whatever they call the holy people over there). No one will find you there.

disneyjoe7

LOL sue everyone......

brettw22

Kris Siegel wrote:

Why not explain your question? I'm not an attorney but I know many and I'm not half bad at searching through laws

To begin, I'm LIVID PISSED at this point......

I'm an exempt employee and have been with the company for 11 years. I'll give ya the jist of what happened (might be a bit long).

Our company merged and that was officially put into effect on June 2nd. I interviewed with both companies and the way they had it arranged, one of the companies would make offers based on their needs. Their offer was about 18% less than current pay. I talked to our VP of HR and asked her about the offer and asked that they extend the severance based on all the stuff that had gone on pre-Chicago move. She said she was looking to put my name on the severance list and I told her to go ahead. That convo was about 3 weeks prior to the merger date.

Last Monday I got a meeting request from the Director of HR to go over my severance package and Friday we talked and went over everything. She had faxed me copies of the package to go over in our call, but said that I should have the actual package at my home on Friday (due to FedEx issues, didn't sign for it until earlier this morning). So......Friday was my last day.

I got a call this morning from the Dir. HR and she said that I don't actually qualify for the severance package that I was returning to them today. She's saying because the two stipulations arethat the new job offered has to be over 50 miles away and that the new offer would have to be less than 80% of my current salary. I told her it was signed and going out today to which she said you can do that, but it won't trigger because I'm not eligible.

Now I'm jobless, without the severance package that was discussed and sent out to me. The package acceptance form that I have doesn't require a co-signature by anyone and just has my name, ssn, last day of work, etc noted on it with the only thing needed is my signature.

I don't care what they say about the 2 stipulations being met at this point. I was confirmed as being severable (with package) due to a LOT of BS that happened over a year ago and am currently waiting on the VP of HR (useless POS) to get back to me.

dkg999

Brett - not sure you need much of a lawyer, get out the phone book and find one willing to work on contingency. The net is they made a mistake, and it would be far cheaper for them to extend the severance offer than to have to hire counsel and negotiate it. Of course they aren't going to do that unless you call their bluff. A good attorney is going to make fast work of this, and get his fees paid by your former employer. If you don't take steps to hold them accountable for their screw-up, then there is no punishment incurred for their mistake, and they just keep repeating the mistakes because there have been no consequences for past wrongs. I believe that Northwestern and Univ of Chicago both have law schools and may have a legal clinic that could give you some basic advice. Also, there is a legal forum on Craig's List that I have seen some lawyers chime in to help people, although you never know who is an actual attorney!

schwarcw

Do you have copies of paperwork they gave to you? If an HR rep went over a package with you, and is now they are not making good, then as Jesse suggested file a lawsuit.

schwarcw

You may want to tell them that you are coming back to work, and continue the lawsuit. Call a bona fide employment attorney or two and ask for a consultation.

brettw22

I have the entire severance package in front of me. In the acceptance letter, it's not a generic letter......it specifies my name, severance amount, and all other info noted above (ssn, last day of employment, etc).

Aside from the conversation that I had over the phone with HR when I was in Great Falls, MT, there's no documented guarantee of severance. But I wouldn't think that would be so much of an issue if they allowed me to be sent the package, leave the company, and then recant it all after the fact.

I'm not going back to work because I think that basically puts be in a situation where I'm willing to go back, then they can ultimately not have me get a severance package. Maybe that's incorrect, but in their severance acceptance letter, it states my last day of employment was Friday the 23rd.....I'm staying away from them based on that fact.

schwarcw

I would contact an attorney ASAP, I know you don't want to go back, but legally, it may protect certain rights. I dunno, get some legal help and good luck.

Carl

wingnut4772

It's a definite civil matter. Was that a proposal or a contract? I would imagine that legally they reserve the right to withdraw any offer of severence as much as they would reserve the right to fire an employee in the first place but I would definitely get some real legal advice. I wish you luck and hope it all works out for you.

dkg999

Call some attorney's in the morning, explain the situation and ask for an initial consultation if you talk to one you seem to click with. They extended you an offer of severance, obviously there was some discussion that led to that, documented or not. They now have decided to withdraw that offer based on their negligence in doing due diligence prior to extending the offer. You made decisions based on their actions, and now have suffered due to their error. To quote my law school professor (I'm not a lawyer but did take some law classes part time) "make the **** pay".

The sad part of this is that you are not a threat until you have legal counsel. Then they will claim it was all a mis-understanding and they will clear it up, and of course you pay your attorney. A good attorney will know how to play the game and get his fees paid. Unless your severance is running into the six figure range, they are far better just settling for your legal fees, the orginal severance, and about $15k of make you go away pain and suffering compensation. Doug

PolkThug

brettw22 wrote:

I have the entire severance package in front of me. In the acceptance letter, it's not a generic letter......it specifies my name, severance amount, and all other info noted above (ssn, last day of employment, etc).

Brett, you are gold, that is a valid contract. Sign it and send it to them. (of course make copies of everything)

Do they know that you didn't actually have the package in your hands until today?

Did you tell her that you already mailed it, or that you were going to mail it after you talked to her?

dkg999

IMHO - I would also return a signed copy of the severance agreement so that you have upheld your obligations under the original agreement. Keep copies of everything. It sounds like they have also not put the fact they have now rescinded the offer in writing. You need to force that move on their part. The next comment to you or your attorney will be that they didn't withdraw the offer, you never sent the signed agreement, so now the agreement is null.

You might consider as your next move prior to getting an attorney, call them in the morning, tell them you are returning the signed agreements per the offer they have made, and since you have nothing official in writing that the offer has been rescinded, you will consider the offer as valid. Then get an attorney. Doug

dkg999

Me and P & Thuggy Attorney's at Law are thinking alike!

brettw22

I did tell the HR Director that I was returning the signed agreement today and she said that I could do so but because I'm not triggered as eligible in the system, it wouldn't do any good. I only received the package today as of this morning. It was signed and ready to be sent out later in the day until I got the phone call from her.

The net is they made a mistake, and it would be far cheaper for them to extend the severance offer than to have to hire counsel and negotiate it.

They have counsel on staff. [The Company] is/was a 32billion a year company. They're not going to have to hire anyone.

dkg999

It doesn't matter if they have attorney's on staff. They are overhead and their hourly rates get billed out to the departments that need their services. There is an internal cost to have their attorney handle the matter, and also a cost to HR's budget to pay for it. Plus the visibility issue internally that they made a big blunder! Don't go on verbal communication. Return the signed agreements, make sure you get delivery confirmation. Hold up your end of the deal. Without the written notice of withdrawl, quite frankly they have little substantiated proof they even told you the severance offer was withdrawn. Your pissed and looking at the glass as half empty, and that is only natural at this point. When one door closes, another one usually opens. Make sure you walk through it.

brettw22

Just when I thought I was going to be done and my hands washed of these people, they pull this..........it's laffably amazing to me at this point. The signed agreement is being Overnighted tomorrow to them and that's the first step.

dkg999

That's the spirit, now go load your resume to monster.com

szhleppy

Be sure to send it back via certified mail...You'll want proof of delivery.

brettw22

It's being FedEx overnighted. I'll have every single possible thing documented, trust.

EDIT: Should I keep pressing the VP of HR to confirm the package is valid? I definitely want to return the signed agreement, but would pushing her for a confirmation be a negative in any way?