What steps can I take if I am demoted?

[SeekingHelp1234]

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

A former employee of the county I live in was fired for insubordination because she was angry that I was promoted and she was not. This angered her and she sued the county and won a settlement. Now she has been elected as the new commissioner and has told many people that she will fire me or demote me. She believes that this is all my fault and has made it public to many people that she will get revenge. What can I do legally?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Absent a cba, accept the demotion, quit or find another job.

 

[Antigone*]

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

A former employee of the county I live in was fired for insubordination because she was angry that I was promoted and she was not. This angered her and she sued the county and won a settlement. Now she has been elected as the new commissioner and has told many people that she will fire me or demote me. She believes that this is all my fault and has made it public to many people that she will get revenge. What can I do legally?

If you do lose your job, file foe unemployment,

 

[SeekingHelp1234]

Would I not have a chance of keeping my job? I have been here for over 20 years and I am 53. The person who will be taking my job is in his early 30's. Isn't there a law that protects us older workers?

 

[sandyclaus]

Would I not have a chance of keeping my job? I have been here for over 20 years and I am 53. The person who will be taking my job is in his early 30's. Isn't there a law that protects us older workers?

From discrimination, yes. But you wouldn't be fired because of your age. You'd be fired because this commissioner doesn't like you and blames you for their own lack of promotion. And while this may be unfair, it's NOT illegal.

 

[cbg]

Or to put it another way, you cannot be fired BECAUSE you are 53. That doesn't mean you can't be fired at all.

 

[commentator]

This has absolutely nothing to do with worker's comp or workplace injuries. But you don't KNOW that you're going to be demoted yet, do you? You can't really tell what's going to happen. She/he just may enjoy letting you sweat about it for a while. May forget about you all together eventually.
It's likely, in many politically related work places such as county offices,where people can get to be elected and this will give them power over former co workers, that as soon as the new person takes office, there is a spate of firings throughout the county offices. It goes with the territory, the type of job, local politics.

And as everyone else has said, it's not like they can't touch you because of your age. If they terminated you and actually said it was because you are too old to do the job, that you need to retire and let a person younger come in, then you'd want to file an EEOC grievance as well as filing for unemployment. But if they fire you for poor performance, it's going to be hard to show that your age was a factor in the firing.

Make sure you stay in place, keep your head down, and do your best on the job. Make sure that they fire you, make sure you don't "get mad and quit" or "turn in my resignation." Because this will greatly hinder your being able to receive unemployment insurance. If they fire you, it will definitely cost the county money (most of those types of places are direct reimbursers for unemployment purposes) and they must, in order to keep you from receiving unemployment insurance benefits, show that you were terminated not because they didn't like you, but because they had a good misconduct reason to terminate you. Make sure they don't have that, and let the chips fall.