Layoff Rights

[Sprocket69]

What is the name of your state? AZ

I've worked for a software company for about 5 years. They are in the process on moving services overseas (New Delhi). The company itself has been pretty tight lipped in regards to possible layoffs etc. There is a lot of talk about legal rights but it’s mostly rumors.

The company itself is known for avoiding layoffs and offering positions (sometimes doing very different work). For example, offering me a job doing Phone billing for cellular company which is very different from my current position of operating system tech support. There have been some rumors that some of these so called opportunities may involve less pay.

What are my legal rights? What are my rights in regards to layoff versus alternate job? DO any free trade agreements cover job rights when your position is threatened by competitors from another country? Are there any online documents that might cover AZ law and employee rights on this topic? Are there any federal laws that protect and/or cover this?

[Beth3]

1. If your job is eliminated and the company offers you another position, you have the right to accept or decline their offer. Naturally if you decline, you will be unemployed.

2. Same as above. Accept an offer or not; it's up to you.

3. No.

4. Not that I'm aware of but that doesn't mean they don't exist. You seem to be assuming that the transfer of services oversees entitles you to enhanced legal rights. It doesn't. It wouldn't make any difference whether the company was moving this work to New Mexico rather than New Dehli.

5. No. Management has the right to align their business as they see fit, including transferring work to other locations, whether inside or outside the U.S.

[Sprocket69]

I've heard that if under NAFTA (and this would not apply to India) that if your job is threatened by Canadian competitors then there is some protection.

It does seem odd that legal and rights information in regards to this kinda of topic is unavailable or hard to locate on the web. Is there any law that requires a company to inform me of my minimum legal rights?

I've tried accesing the DES (department of Economic Security) legal rights page but the page looks like its either unavailable or down.