Severance contract w/former employer

[ROwens]

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

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but have a couple questions about agreeing to their severance contract...which I feel, they just want you to sign it blindly and go away. And many people do because they cannot find another position.

I was "let go" from my very large company, their statement was "lack of work." There was TONS of our daily work to be done right up to the minute I left.
Getting let go for lack of work was an incorrect statement on their part.

There was always a lot of shady things being done with our job classifications, salary, hours worked in order not to pay overtime as well as to ensure "favorites" were protected and not placed in a position where there would be in a lay-off situation. (one being the a spouse of someone plus all the ones who would keep their mouths shut and cover his butt for him. They were always kept "out of the line of fire" as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway...I have been seeking another position and have been running into MANY contract worker companies with MANY positions open in my former company. They call me because they see that I am perfectly qualified for their open positions until they find out how long ago I have left. Which has been 30 days ago.

After all the crap this employer has pulled, I really do not care to go back to work for them, but this type of contract still appears a continuation of flouting their written policies and changing things as they please..at the expense of their dedicated employees.

My severance package states:
not eligible to apply for or accept employment with employer OR from a 3rd party for 6 months from date of leaving.

My former employer HR person told me a period of 1 year.
The contract house is also told 1 year, but he admitted no one knows for sure.

How can this contract be valid if there is conflicting information?

Should I just sign it and be done with it?
There is a monetary value attached of course, most people need the money so bad, they sign it. Yes, I need the income too, but it just sticks in my craw.

And the other stuff they have done has always been questioned if it was legal or not, or violating the Federal Labor Laws, but you did not dare open your mouth around there or your name was put on the next "layoff list." I do not think they honored their "open door policy" either.


Thanks for your time and review.


Robbie

 

[Beth3]

How can this contract be valid if there is conflicting information? The severance agreement is between you and the employer. Whatever agreements the company has with suppliers they use (including staffing agencies) is irrelevant as it pertains to YOUR severance agreement.

Should I just sign it and be done with it? It appears so. Nothing you've described constitutes anything illegal on your employer's part. You have no legal claims to pursue with your employer so you might as well sign the agreement and take the money.

Your employer has policies and practices you don't agree with but that doesn't mean they've done anything illegal.

 

[swalsh411]

There was TONS of our daily work to be done right up to the minute I left. Getting let go for lack of work was an incorrect statement on their part.

No it's not. It means there is no work for you.

My severance package states:
not eligible to apply for or accept employment with employer OR from a 3rd party for 6 months from date of leaving.

I hope this doesn't mean they are expecting you to be unemployed for half a year. This would be unenforceable.

 

[Beth3]

I believe it means that the OP can't work for them through a third party, e.g. a staffing agency.

 

[randolph76]

Yes, it appears that OP is paraphrasing? No employer can bar you from all employment for 6 months.

 

[commentator]

You will also need to file for unemployment insurance. Being laid off due to lack of work is a term that clearly means that there was no more work available for you to do. It does not have a negative connotation, and the fact that they are giving you severance clearly means it was not any kind of "at-fault termination."
For a company to do this, they are saying they did not have misconduct cause of any kind to have to let you go, and they will not object to your receiving unemployment insurance, since you are out of work through no fault of your own.

In Michigan, you will have to draw your severance before beginning unemployment if I'm remembering correctly, but it is important to go on and file at once, the first week you are not working. This is in case you have a long dry spell before finding another job and have to draw benefits for a long time, you need to set up the claim during these most recent quarters when you have been working full time. It is not wise to wait to file until you have exhausted all severance and all possible job leads.

I am mystified as to how you think signing a severance contract has anything to do with other people finding another position. Or that there would be any upside to not signing it just because you need the money? There's certainly no big lawsuit money or anything else that you might come into if you didn't sign it.

Because they chose to lay you off due to lack of work, that certainly does not mean they have to give you severance, or that they are obligated to call you back to work, or that they have to lay off according the job or the seniority or anything else.

If they are a union company with contracts that stipulate lay off policies, they would have to follow those, but otherwise, you don't have a single thing to complain about. They can. They did. You cannot sue them, no labor laws have been violated. Take the severance, file for unemployment benefits, and look for that next job. Being laid off due to lack of work has certainly happened to many Michigan folks in the last few years.