Employment Terminated, What To Do?

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

I held a retail management position with my former employer for a little over a year. I received several commendations from within the company and much positive customer feedback.

Much to my surprise, I was fired a week ago.

At the end of last year, I asked for a performance review and a pay evaluation. The co. handbook states that performance reviews are annual and that there is an additional one the first year after the first 90 days of employment. I was never formally evaluated. I had not received any increase in pay either.

I communicated through my supervisor who communicated with corporate that I would like the performance review. He responded to me that the evaluations are done in June and that no one got a raise this year because of poor sales. My response to him referred to the handbook. The employee handbook says that bonuses are dependent on sales and that pay increases are dependent upon individual performance. I asked again to have my own performance evaluated.

Corporate's response was to fire me for the reason of having a bad attitude.

I am wondering if this fits under the category of retaliation? I asked for a performance evaluation and pay increase (which is assured to me in the employee handbook) and was then terminated when I asked the company to follow its own guidelines.

What steps should I take at this point? Should I file a complaint with the EEOC? Will they deny me unemployment benefits?

Again, they never wrote me up or asked me to change my behavior or threatened termination for asking for a raise.

Thank you.

Gobias said:

I am wondering if this fits under the category of retaliation?

Click to expand...

Of course not... honestly, what did you think the definition was? Retaliation only applies when your employer fires you for reporting things like sexual harassment or illegal activity. Denying you a pay increase is not illegal activity, and complaining about it and subsequently complaining about it further when you received your answer is absolutely a legal reason to terminate.

Gobias said:

I asked for a performance evaluation and pay increase (which is assured to me in the employee handbook) and was then terminated when I asked the company to follow its own guidelines.

Click to expand...

Yes, because THEY have no money. You are not entitled to a pay raise... but now with one less mouth to feed, they might be able to afford it for your fellow ex-employees.

Gobias said:

What steps should I take at this point?

Click to expand...

Um... find a new job?

Gobias said:

Should I file a complaint with the EEOC?

Click to expand...

Heck, why not! The last figure I read said that somewhere between 85-90% of all EEOC claims are bogus anyway, so why not throw another straw on the camel's back?

Gobias said:

Again, they never wrote me up or asked me to change my behavior or threatened termination for asking for a raise.

Click to expand...

Actually, they did ask you to change your behavior... by explaining to you why you were not getting a bonus/raise, they were implicitly asking you to drop the issue because they have bigger fish to fry. When you pushed the issue, they decided to replace the squeaky wheel. Instead of pushing the issue, you could've just been glad that your pay hasn't been cut yet, instead of wondering why you weren't getting the raise.

Of course not... honestly, what did you think the definition was? Retaliation only applies when your employer fires you for reporting things like sexual harassment or illegal activity. Denying you a pay increase is not illegal activity, and complaining about it and subsequently complaining about it further when you received your answer is absolutely a legal reason to terminate.

Click to expand...

Didn't complain about it. The response I got didn't match the policy stated in the employee handbook and I pointed that out.

Yes, because THEY have no money. You are not entitled to a pay raise... but now with one less mouth to feed, they might be able to afford it for your fellow ex-employees.

Click to expand...

I understand that I am not entitled to a pay raise. But, according to the company's own policies, I am entitled to a performance evaluation. At the point that I requested one, I should have had two.



I wondered if this situation fit the retaliation bill because I asked the company to follow its own policies and was then terminated when I pointed out that they were not.

And the answer is still no. It is not illegal for a company to not give performance evaluations. The only way this would be illegal is if they were refusing to evaluate you for a protected reason (race, gender, religion etc). Simply not getting to it does not constitute illegal discrimination.

It's just a function of the poor economy; administrative items are slipping in every company. Reminding them about it over and over isn't likely to engender much sympathy when they're trying to figure out how to make cuts.

Good luck on your job search...

Gobias said:

I understand that I am not entitled to a pay raise. But, according to the company's own policies, I am entitled to a performance evaluation. At the point that I requested one, I should have had two.

Click to expand...

Then after your boss told you you wouldn't be getting a formal performance evaluation, you should have said "I understand that formal evaluations are on hold because of economic conditions, but could we sit and talk for a while so I can get your feedback on how I'm doing so I can continue to improve".

Insisting that they do things one way after they've said 'no' isn't a great idea.

mistoffolees said:

Then after your boss told you you wouldn't be getting a formal performance evaluation, you should have said "I understand that formal evaluations are on hold because of economic conditions, but could we sit and talk for a while so I can get your feedback on how I'm doing so I can continue to improve".

Insisting that they do things one way after they've said 'no' isn't a great idea.

Click to expand...

Very well put. An excellent lesson in using diplomacy to get what you want