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I've been in a similar situation as that described by the author, and went shopping for lawyers. The four lawyers who would even talk to me basically said this
by buffington 5y ago
I've been in a similar situation as that described by the author, and went shopping for lawyers.
The four lawyers who would even talk to me basically said this:
Even if you have documentation, there's nothing stopping a company from producing an "HR file" that shows they tried to correct an employee's course, and the employee failed to meet expectations.
There are laws in some states where, if you ask, a company is required to send you all documentation they have about your employment. So I did, and was shocked at how out of sync their records were with reality.
What their records showed was a belligerent, reluctant, and untalented employee, one who was given many many warnings.
Which is not what my actual experience. I was routinely praised by my manager for exceeding expectations, had great relationships with everyone I worked with, could prove that my contributions made the company 3x more than they paid me, etc, etc.
But when struck with pancreatitis, they let me go. While I was in the hospital. Their reason: I didn't request the time off. As if that's a thing you do when you nearly die and are saved by emergency surgery.
TL;DR - it's easy to say "lawyer up", but in reality, much harder to fight than you think, even when you lawyer up.
The good news is I work for a company that doesn't just encourage people to use unlimited PTO, they will frequently pay for vacations for people who go above and beyond. Like, 5 star resort, airfare included for 10 days for up to 4 people.
When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, they said "do what you need to do", as I was his only caregiver. Feeling a bit cautious given past experiences I went on FMLA so that, should things go bad, at least I'd taken the correct legal steps. After being away for two months, when I got back they said "we have unlimited PTO, so we let you use 5 days of FMLA just so it's official, but paid the rest. Welcome back." So, in a way, the first company described did me a favor, since I wouldn't be at my current company had they not fired me.
- buffington 5y agoI forgot to mention: the company that fired me did offer a severance package, though if I'd accepted it, I would have needed to agree to never talk about the circumstances of my leaving the company. It was worth every penny I didn't get by telling them I wouldn't sign the severance agreement.
- _moof 5y agoMy favorite term in these agreements is the one forbidding you from even mentioning the existence of the agreement.
- munk-a 5y agoIf you've never signed an NDA that prevents you from speaking about the parties involved in another NDA you haven't lived!
- TeMPOraL 5y agoHow does this work? Can an NDA prohibit you from talking about itself, or does it have to be structured in a cycle, with one NDA protecting "future NDA", and the next NDA protecting "the last NDA"?
- munk-a 5y agoThere is always an NDA you can talk about - but that NDA could consist solely of the contents "All agreements signed while employed with so-and-so are confidential" - which restricts even your ability to discuss the parties of other NDAs.
- _moof 5y agoThe one I've seen prohibited talking about itself, except with a lawyer.
- qzw 5y agoInteresting experiences, but without the names of the companies (or at least what they rhyme with), what can we actually learn from your story? There’s a shit company and a great company out there, and good for you for ending up at the good one. But this just reads like a form of humble brag.
- buffington 5y agoKnowing the name of the first company doesn't help make my point that lawyers may advise you that you can't win a fight with a crappy company. I considered naming my current company but didn't want to be called out for promoting it. If that comes across as a humble brag to you, I can live with that.
- lostlogin 5y agoThanks for this and wow. To save other foreigners, googling tells me: 1) FMLA: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave per year. 2) PTO is paid time off.