Do I concede defeat or fight?

[Robbyn]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I was formerly employed with a company that provided support services for handicapped persons. I very much enjoyed my job and thoroughly believed in our cause. Unfortunately I became aware of the neglect of certain clients and observed, as well as experienced, unethical treatment of the staff by the company administrators. I began to voice my concerns, and immediately was singled out for subtle retaliation by my superiors. This took the form of malicious rumors, revealing to colleagues that I would soon be terminated, and unreasonable scheduling demands. I finally had enough and submitted a letter of complaint to our corporate office. When the corporate HR person came for a grievance hearing, my immediate supervisors drafted an 11th hour performance review. Because the review was sloppy and hastily done, I managed to successfully dispute all their claims, as well as point out the obvious untruths. Some of the allegations made against me were stated to have occurred during my days off, or when I was assigned to fieldwork. In any event HR stated that the claims would not be considered, but that my position would be eliminated due to downsizing of the programs our company sponsored. It was told to me that unemployment would be granted if I agreed to sign a waiver stating that I would not further investigate or make claims of harassment, or misconduct against the company. A letter, with a vague description of my separation and tons of scary legalese, was given to me to sign within a specific time frame or the offer would be taken off the table. Somehow I feel as though I'm getting the "bum rush" out and being forced to do it quietly. My state has an "at will" employee-employer labor law, therefore I'm feeling rather helpless to anything about this...but is there no recourse for this kind of employer treatment available to me??

 

[cbg]

If the facts are as you stated, I agree that you have been treated poorly.

However, unless the treatment you observed and complained about was ILLEGAL (not just unethical) AND you reported it to the appropriate outside agency, then any "whistleblowing" laws do not apply. In your state - in fact, in most states - "whistleblowing" protection does not apply to internal complaints, and even in the state that do provide protection for internal reports/complaints, the behavior reported/complained of has to be illegal for the protection to apply.

As far as anything else you've described, I'm sorry but nothing in your post gives you any legal recourse. But with reference to the document you have been asked to sign, I'd like to make a few comments:

1.) The employer does NOT have the perogative to grant or decline unemployment - only the state can do that. The employer CAN contest unemployment, but to successfully do so they will have to provide sufficent proof of misconduct to convince the state. The UC system is slanted in FAVOR of the employee, so their "evidence" will have to be substantial.

2.) It is not illegal, or even uncommon, for an employee who has been laid off/job eliminated/asked to resign etc., to be asked to sign a waiver of claims against the company. However, there are certain things that you CANNOT waive, and unemployment is one of them. A document waiving your right to unemployment is going to be unenforceable in 99.99999% of cases, and nothing in your post indicates that you would be the exception. In fact, I can't even think of a situation in which such a document would be enforceable, and left the option open only because I have learned to allow for exceptions to even the most unlikely possibility.

 

[JETX]

"but is there no recourse for this kind of employer treatment available to me??"
*** Based solely on the contents of your post, your treatment sounds unfair, but there is nothing in it that would constitute illegal activity.
It is purely your choice as to whether you decide to sign the separation form or not.... however, since you tendered your resignation and their subsequent 'decision' to downsize are contradictory, I can easily see where they would say that you quit, and therefore would not be eligible for unemployment anyway.

 

[Robbyn]

Florida

Thank you for your advice, I really appreciate your experience and the loan of your ear. I tried to keep my posting as brief as possible, however I have two additional items I'd like to have your views on. Shortly after coming aboard with this employer I received a report from a colleague that another colleague had made a threat to do bodily harm to me. The reporting colleague was so unnerved by this incident that she documented the conversation and submitted it to my superior. My superior informed me that the issue would be dealt with as well as reported to our corporate HR office. Since the employee who made the threat resigned soon after, I never followed up on the outcome (I assumed her resignation was related to the matter). I later discovered that this person was apparently a close associate of someone on the administrative staff and had been, despite her resignation, still visiting the office and certain staff members. More disturbing is that during the grievance hearing I learned that this incident was never addressed and that no report had ever been sent to HR. Do I have any legal recourse on this issue? Lastly, the negative rumors that were spread about me by my superiors were reported to have reached across to several outside agencies which link to our services. I'm especially concerned about this because these are agencies that I may now call upon for employment opportunities. If the objective was to ruin my career with manufactured charges, I pray they were unsuccessful. Though how can I possibly be sure that if I am turned down for employment with these agencies that it is not fallout from this disastrous event?

 

[cbg]

On the first issue, you have no legal recourse. You suffered no damages; you cannot sue for what might have happened.

On the second issue, you have no legal recourse at this time. IF you experience difficulties finding a new job AND IF you are able to CONCLUSIVELY ("I think it must be because..." will NOT be enough) link the difficulties to these rumors, THEN you may be able to take some action. As to how you prove it, there are reference checking agencies out there - you can also have a trusted friend call and see what they say. Note that the burden of proof will be entirely on you.

 

[Robbyn]

Thank you very much, you've been extremely helpful.