Unsure of Discrimination

[Doxiepal]

Pennsylvania

I am unsure if I should contact or talk to a lawyer about my current status within my company. I resigned my position at work after I gave birth to my son because he was constantly sick and would not take a bottle or anything, at least not well enough that my husband and I felt confident to put in day care. I accepted a part time position within the company because I wanted to stay with the company and hoped a position would later arise that I could apply for. Now that my son is better I applied for a position that would have been a promotion for me. I trained the person that currently held the position for that particular position. WHen they announced that they were leaving the department i immediately applied for the position. Little did I know that there was resentment towards me for my actions. It took nearly 4 weeks of leaving messages and emails to even get a response stating that they were aware of my intentions. Human resources gave me the silence treatment and no answers were ever responded to the head of that department. Finally after 4 weeks human resources gave me a call for an interview. The interview went well except for the fact that they stated that they were hiring on personality and all other aspects of the job. That sent up a flag that something was wrong. It is considered company policy (although not written) that they will hire from within unless they have nobody that is qualified for the position. I was completely qualified and needed little to no training. They ended up hiring from outside the company two people, one for the position i left and one from the position i was trying for. They must have interviewed before i was given a chance and my overall feeling is that they only gave me the interview so i couldnt complain that i didnt get a chance. They handed out a memo telling who had gotten the position along with how good their personality was. That was a kick to my gut. I have emailed the head of the department and still have not gotten an explanation as to why i was not hired considering i was the most qualified for the position. I have spent the last 5 years trying to make a name for myself from within the company and now nobody will talk to me. On the last day of the person leaving the position i emailed her to ask if a decision was made... apparently the supervisor was standing next to her and threaten her not to respond, that the head of the department would take care of it. It was never done. Nobody will talk to me now. Im not sure if there is a legal case or even if i have any legal grounds. I am now aware that this company does not want to give me a future. I am now forced to apply elsewhere after 5 years of faithful service. an help or advice as to what i should do would be helpful. I just dont know what course of action i should take or if i should just go quietly into the night. thank you

 

[Beth3]

No, you do not have any basis to pursue a legal claim against the company. They had no obligation to offer you either of these jobs, no matter how qualified you think you are. Apparently they didn't feel the same way.

If you want to move back into a full-time position, it appears you'll need to do it elsewhere.

 

[Doxiepal]

Thank you, thats pretty much what i thought. One last question. They took away my vacation time saying that while i was on maternity leave that i wasn't earning any. I am almost positive that another person in my department did get hers during her maternity leave... is there any way i can find out?

 

[Beth3]

Do you mean is there any way you can force the company to reveal the details of someone else's employment? No.

 

[Doxiepal]

Then how does one or rather how would one go and find out if the rules apply for everyone? Just curious... i know i have to move on but just want to know everything before i do

 

[Beth3]

You can't unless you file a lawsuit and get a judge to issue a subpoena for all the relevant records. Absent that, your employer has the right (and valid reasons) to keep the details of the particulars of everyone's employment with them confidential.

Do you really want some co-worker being able to waltz into HR and finding out all the details of YOUR employment relationship - how much you're paid, how much vacation you get, whether you were ever disciplined and why, why you weren't promoted, and so on? That's what you're really talking about here.

 

[Katy W.]

Did I miss something? I thought you said that you "resigned" when your child was a week old. (Congratulations on the baby.) If you resigned then hiring you would also be hiring an outside person.

You have much better things to concentrate on right now than whether you get a job at your old company. Babies don't stay babies that long, I would be looking at my priorities. Any company that would make you resign to take care of a newborn instead of giving you unpaid leave is not worth stewing over.

 

[cbg]

Did I miss something?

Where does the poster say that she (a) requested unpaid leave and was refused (b) was forced to resign?

 

[Doxiepal]

No, I resigned my position. I went part time for the company during the night so i could care for him during the day and him at night. The only reason I did this was because i truly like the company and wanted to continue to work there. I am now learning that this was a mistake. I dont understand why they would do this... its not as if i left and made a scene about it or rubbed it in peoples faces or anything, i didnt even want to give up my position but with maternity leave up and my child not doing well i had no other choice. Now I can even use them as a reference because obviously they dont like me and would not hire me back, and i cant stay because there is no advancement for me. Basically my last 5 years with this company has been a basic waste of time. It just doesnt seem fair or right. I trained half the people in that department and now im not qualified to hold a position there? I guess life just isnt fair some times

 

[Beth3]

I doubt that they're not offering you either of these jobs because they don't "like" you but rather because from their viewpoint, you're not qualified for the positions. Qualified means a whole lot of things beyond just the technical skills to do the job and for whatever reason, they don't feel you're a fit.

I tend to doubt that it has anything to do with your resigning after you had the baby. If that were the case, they never would have hired you back part-time.

Now I can even use them as a reference It doesn't matter whether you list them as a reference or not. Any reasonable prospective employer will contact your past-employers, particularly your most recent past employer, for a reference.

 

[Doxiepal]

I doubt that they're not offering you either of these jobs because they don't "like" you but rather because from their viewpoint, you're not qualified for the positions. Qualified means a whole lot of things beyond just the technical skills to do the job and for whatever reason, they don't feel you're a fit.

I tend to doubt that it has anything to do with your resigning after you had the baby. If that were the case, they never would have hired you back part-time.

Now I can even use them as a reference It doesn't matter whether you list them as a reference or not. Any reasonable prospective employer will contact your past-employers, particularly your most recent past employer, for a reference.

meant to say can't. I have trained the person that currently had the job. I dont understand then how a person who doesnt know the products, doesn't know how to do the bids, and doesn't have a degree in the field is more qualified than me. Honestly, I did not expect to get the job. I expected somebody from inside the company that may know more about the products than I to be given the position. I also did not expect for them not to call me for an interview and it only when I pleaded them for me to at least let me know if i was going to even be able to interview or if they were not going to let me interview to please just me know.

 

[Beth3]

It's quite possible your employer could have handled the situation better. That still doesn't give you any legal recourse though. They simply weren't interested in you for these two openings. I don't know why but that's their decision to make.

 

[Katy W.]

No, I didn't really mean that she was forced to resign, although that's what I wrote. What I was trying to say is that if I had a valued employee who came to me with a resignation because she had to care for a newborn baby, I would have given her other options. Just my opinion and sorry I didn't word it clearly.

 

[cbg]

Katy, you don't know what the employer did, said, offered, or what other options were available. If an employee chooses to resign, it's not the place of the employer to second-guess her.