R
relanne
Guest
This is a bit involved so Ill try to be as concise as possible.
In 1998 I was hired as the Network Administrator, Support engineer and general technical person for a startup Internet Service provider in Michigan. Over the next 2 years, I was the only technical person at the company, wearing at least three to four hats at once. I had a written employment contract guaranteeing wages, benefits etc. During my tenure, the contract was violated in small ways repeatedly. At the end of my first year with the company, I was asked to work out details for a new network for a planned expansion into the portal market. I was promised more help so I could work on the new project. As it turned out I did not receive the new help and when my contract was nearing the end of its term, it was repeatedly violated by my employer. As a result, I used the termination clause in the contract to leave the company. After leaving, they refused to pay the severence amount shown in the contract, and I had to threaten legal action. They then contacted me about a month after I left to ask if I would return if they made good on the contract. I agreed and was offered a new position with the newly formed company they had begun and absorbed the old one into. After a few months, directly after getting the new network online, and training some technicians, I was fired. No severence, and I was told that since the new company was an Arab American portal site, and I was not arab american, I did not fit the image the new company wished to project. Again I threatened legal action for discrimination, however I have no real proof since the only people present at my firing were two of the corporate officers. Now when I try to apply for a job, I get great interviews, however when new prospective employers attempt to call my old job, I suddenly bcome a pariah. I have considered having some friends call the company and ask for a reference and tape the conversation so I can get some idea of what they are saying. I am basically blackballed. Is there anything I can do? I have been out of work for almost a year thanks to this. I now live in Ohio, the company is still based in michigan, I have lost our rented house and been forced into a mobile home, and I am about to lose my car.
In 1998 I was hired as the Network Administrator, Support engineer and general technical person for a startup Internet Service provider in Michigan. Over the next 2 years, I was the only technical person at the company, wearing at least three to four hats at once. I had a written employment contract guaranteeing wages, benefits etc. During my tenure, the contract was violated in small ways repeatedly. At the end of my first year with the company, I was asked to work out details for a new network for a planned expansion into the portal market. I was promised more help so I could work on the new project. As it turned out I did not receive the new help and when my contract was nearing the end of its term, it was repeatedly violated by my employer. As a result, I used the termination clause in the contract to leave the company. After leaving, they refused to pay the severence amount shown in the contract, and I had to threaten legal action. They then contacted me about a month after I left to ask if I would return if they made good on the contract. I agreed and was offered a new position with the newly formed company they had begun and absorbed the old one into. After a few months, directly after getting the new network online, and training some technicians, I was fired. No severence, and I was told that since the new company was an Arab American portal site, and I was not arab american, I did not fit the image the new company wished to project. Again I threatened legal action for discrimination, however I have no real proof since the only people present at my firing were two of the corporate officers. Now when I try to apply for a job, I get great interviews, however when new prospective employers attempt to call my old job, I suddenly bcome a pariah. I have considered having some friends call the company and ask for a reference and tape the conversation so I can get some idea of what they are saying. I am basically blackballed. Is there anything I can do? I have been out of work for almost a year thanks to this. I now live in Ohio, the company is still based in michigan, I have lost our rented house and been forced into a mobile home, and I am about to lose my car.