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Unfair termination

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P

Prof

Guest
I hope this not too lengthy. I am a associate professor-research at a research center in Louisiana. I was brought into the center by the director of the center because he needed a molecular biologist to lead a project to discover new genes for a fairly prevalent problem that exists in America. I was told that I would be working on industrial money and that I was not to be concerned about writing for federally funded or state funded grants. I was also told that I would not be able to publish my finding for a number of years because of the proprietary nature of the work that I was doing. I was also "lured" into accepting the position because of the possibility of receiving royalties in the future. My previous position was an academic position where I had grant funding. I did not know what kind of person he was when I came to work at the center, but I soon found out that he was very controlling. Since I was a molecular biologist but not acquinted with the field, it took me about 6 months to get my head into the subject matter. At the end of my 6 month probation, the director evaluated my progress and gave a stamp of approval on my job performance. I was to receive a yearly performance review after that with the condition that if I did not perform adequately, I had one year to look for a new position. At this six month probationary review, he told me to focus on my project rather than be looking for ways to decrease my vulnerability at the center by finding projects to work on for which I could write grants. He would help me to get involved in projects as he saw fit. The next six months I made excellent progress in the project and thought that I had at least one candidate gene and a way to rapidly find more candidate genes. I asked him to clarify my position on the project and he told me that he was the project leader and that I was just an associate professor looking for genes. The next three months the project has exploded and we have made great progress in genotyping individuals which is the necessary step to finding genes. At the end of February we had a lab meeting to see our progress and I asked permission to present my view of the organization of the lab along with my results. He agreed. I called him the project director and another associate professor and myself the project leaders and then proceeded to spell out the technical people in the lab. I listed two people as consultants, one an assistant professor in our group who had his own project and the other the lab manager (not a PhD but someone who he brought with him to manage the lab supplies, equipment and even technical personnel). This person was very offended by being called a consultant and went to the director expressing how emotionally upset I had made her and claimed that I could not get along with anyone in the lab. The lab individuals are a unique bunch. Many of them have serious personality issues. My fellow associate professor has had about three years of experience before coming here and was fired from two jobs in this time period because of personality conflicts. He has taken it upon himself to belittle me and talk bad about my ideas. I have chosen to ignore him, to work hard and to show that I do have good ideas. This has only made matter worse since he cannot control me. I have little communicate with him because I won't take his "crap". One of the technicians came with the director and she has offended nearly everyone in the lab and she is known as a "bitch". I have had my problems with her also. To make a long story short, we have a disfunctional laboratory that has somehow figured out how to be productive inspite of our conflicts. So much for this little diversion. Back to the issue. The lab manager went to the director, who is also head of the lab, and complained about me. She gathered all the malcontents and had them unload their discontentment about me to the director at a meeting that I was not informed about. This transpired on the following Tuesday after the previous Wednesday's lab meeting. The next Friday, I meet with him and he informed I could not get along with anyone in the lab and that I should begin to look for a position elsewhere. When I tried to defend myself, he told me that nothing I could say would intimidate him. My position was being terminated. I am now in a position of having to try to find a position elsewhere under the following conditions. I cannot tell anyone what I have done at the center because of confidentiality agreements that I signed. I have no grants and none that I have submitted that are being reviewed. I have only been here for 1 year and 2 months. I am 52 years old. I feel that I have been unjustly maligned, slandered, and had my character defamed. I also feel that I may have a case of promissory estoppel (I was promised to be the project leader and never given that position), detrimental reliance (I gave up a lot of things that a scientist would normally use to get a job such as grant submissions, free exchange of scientific information, and the publication of scientific results) and disparate impact (I am not the one with the serious personality issues. I admit that my social skills are not as honed as many outside of science, but for a scientist, I have a fairly good reputation for being able to manage people and to work with a team toward a common goal even if there are moments of critical assessment of what is happening in the team. None of the other "misfits" are being given the same treatment). I am being told that the director has the right to do whatever he wants and that I should just quietly try to find another position. Do I have a case? Would you advise me to see a redress through the courts since there is no due process or grievance procedure in place at the center?
 


B

buddy2bear

Guest
You need to see a labor & employment attorney, because there is really no way anyone on this board can give you a cut and dried answer. You work in a field that has serious highly-charged internal and external "political" personalities -- in otherwords, to put it simply, your field is a dog-eat-dog field.
 

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