#Corporate Bullying #Retaliation #Wrongful Termination #SalaryIssues

[jazzforu]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

Hello,

I am looking for legal counsel on a work-related dispute matter which has resulted in my termination without a cause. I have been employed with Private IT company XYZ headquartered in NJ and offices in VA for over 12 years as a IT Delivery Manager/Engagement Manager. I handle their 2nd largest account in terms of annual revenue which translates to 5 of overall revenue.

On 10/18/2016, Client Partner my managers boss offered me an Account Service Delivery Manager ASDM job new role because of my impeccable past performance in the company. This role demands lot more responsibility ranging from managing current projects and engaging with new clients for potential business expansion. He promised considerable Base Salary Correction, Variable Pay based on KPI Revenue, GM and CVAs and Restricted Stock Units RSUs.

On 10/20/2016, I agreed to take up the role and move forward to start the new role starting 1/1/2017. Client Partner agreed to discuss with HR and roll out new contracts but after many months of follow-up nothing materialized. I took a professional approach on this with my manager and he arranged for discussion with client partner on many occasions for almost the entire 2017, yet nothing materialized. Hence, I was forced but politely escalated this to the President of the company who was client partners boss and HR Head for North America sometime in the beginning of 2018, and after many follow-ups of over 8 months, I have had no response from them till date.

Here is the gist of my achievements in the next 18 months that followed,
I built a portfolio of 30M and I worked really-hard to expand business and build great relationship with the clients including CDOs, VPs and Directors.
I haired and managed more than 150 employees and consultants reporting to me and I have a commitment to them on various aspects including their career growth among other things.
I am recognized as a Top People Manager Award winner in 2017 with one of the highest ratings among my peers.
I have introduced numerous Innovative cost-effective initiatives like Floater program, Account digitization yielding Y-o-Y revenue growthEN with the same account.

Meanwhile, on 9/24/2018 my wife who was part of same XYZ company accepted a full-time opportunity as an Analyst with one of their client. She was not a full-time employee of XYZ company and was on W2. The Master Service Agreement with the client states that they can hire anyone from XYZ company if they apply for a position. Eventually, XYZ company tried to stop her from taking the new job by issuing her legal notice and shared the same with client. But the client ignored everything and hired her. This was considered a setback for XYZ company.

On 9/26/2018, I got a call from my supervisor to return to office after office hrs. and he informed that I am no longer part of account team with immediate effect. My access was terminated, and no formal communication went to my clients and all my direct reports. During the final discussion with my manager there was no HR presence nor any formal communication from HR followed and I demanded the reason to be given in writing. I proactively reached out to HR to find out the reason for my release in an abrupt manner, I was told it was due to Conflict of Interest and he did not give me any opportunity to speak my thoughts.

On 11/28/2018, After two months of Emotional Distress due to uncertainty of not being assigned to any other opportunity, I was informed that I was being terminated with 2 weeks salary with no severance. I have reasons to believe that this uncalled-for action has intentions beyond Conflict of Interest. The client partner took a retaliatory measure by releasing me from account team in a highly Unprofessional manner for his own personal benefit.
End of the day, I lost around 2 yrs. of my significant career growth with no major monetary changes, lingering uncertainty and certainly no one seemed to give a damn.
I filed a formal complaint against the people involved with the Chief People Officer and CEO. Yet, no action was taken, and I was informed that the company was within its right to do what they did. Currently, I have no job or any offers that I can look forward.

Hence, I wanted to reach out seeking legal counsel if I can sue my employer for damages.

I look forward to your response.

Thank you

 

[Zigner]

1: Sorry - this forum is not a referral forum.
2: I don't see any illegal acts here.

 

[cbg]

1.) Reputable attorneys do not troll message boards looking for clients
2.) Nothing you have posted gives you legal grounds to sue your employer at all. This is not a wrongful termination as defined by law.

 

[eerelations]

Absent a legally binding and enforceable contract that states otherwise, your former employer had the legal right to fire you for pretty much any reason. Google "at-will employment" for a complete definition of this legal concept.

Absent a CBA that states otherwise, employers are not legally required to increase their employees' pay at any time during their employment.

Regarding the "corporate bullying" I don't see a description of any bullying in your post. However, this is probably moot because most workplace bullying is perfectly legal.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Unfortunately nothing you wrote suggests a good claim for wrongful termination. Employment in Virginia and every other state but one is "at will". At will employment at common law originally meant that both employer and employee were free to terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason (or no reason at all). It remains true that employees can quit at any time for any reason. Employers are still largely free to terminate an employee at any time for just about any reason, but today there are a few limited reasons that an employer may not terminate an employee. The prohibited reasons include firing you because:

• of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information under federal law (some states/localities add a few more categories like sexual orientation);
• you make certain kinds of reports about the employer to the government or in limited circumstances to specified persons in the employing company itself (known as whistle-blower protection laws);
• you participate in union organizing activities;
• you use a right or benefit the law guarantees you (e.g. using leave under FMLA);
• you filed a bankruptcy petition;
• your pay was garnished by a single creditor; and
• you took time off work to attend jury duty (in most states).

The exact list of prohibited reasons will vary by state. Your problem is that you've not said anything that indicates any of the situations listed above are the reason you were terminated. The employer does not need a good reason to fire you; all that matters is that the reason is not one of the few prohibited reasons like the ones listed above.

Of course if you had an employment contract for some specified period of time (e.g. 1 year, 5 years, etc) and that contract limited the reasons you could be fired or required good cause to fire you then if the employer breached that contract you would have a breach of contract case, not wrongful termination. That's also true if you were a member of a union that had a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the employer that limited the reasons for which the employer could fire you. That would be a breach of contract matter.

Feel free to consult an attorney or two in Virginia who litigates wrongful termination cases for a review of your situation to see if you have anything to pursue. Just be aware that you are likely to hear that there was no wrongful termination.

 

[Just Blue]

I could die happy if I never saw another hashtag in my life.

 

[eerelations]

I could die happy if I never saw another hashtag in my life.

Not knowing a huge amount about hashtags, what would be the purpose of them here?

 

[Zigner]

Not knowing a huge amount about hashtags, what would be the purpose of them here?

So other people looking up those issues can find them in an aggregated form. I don't know if it would make a difference in this situation, but the OP seems to think it would.

 

[Just Blue]

Not knowing a huge amount about hashtags, what would be the purpose of them here?

I guess what Zig said. IMO OP is a little over the top with it.

 

[FlyingRon]

This is also not TWITTER, we don't hastag here.

 

[HighwayMan]

Not knowing a huge amount about hashtags, what would be the purpose of them here?

They have no purpose here. They serve a purpose on Twitter. That's it.

 

[jazzforu]

Thank you for all your responses. I am trying to get a perspective here and you guys are trolling me for using # tags.
Anyways, if dont want to help, please ignore the thread and carry on with your business.

Let me come to point.

I am not asking for counsel about wrongful termination, what i meant is that my employer did not give me the increment and stock units he promised verbally but enjoyed the profits that i made for him over the period i mentioned in my statement. more so he waiting for an opportunity to remove me so that he can keep the profits for himself and not give me what he had promised. He found that opp. when my wife joined the client and legally he could not stop her so he retaliated against me. Does this not make sense?

I found this on the EEOC website on retaliation. According to EEOC: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/retaliation.cfm

• asking managers or co-workers about salary information to uncover potentially discriminatory wages.

I hoping for some good guidance from the people who care in the forum to guide me in the right direction.

Thank you

 

[jazzforu]

1.) Reputable attorneys do not troll message boards looking for clients
2.) Nothing you have posted gives you legal grounds to sue your employer at all. This is not a wrongful termination as defined by law.

Hi,

Can you tell me how does verbal agreements are treated in the state of VA? are they binding? and if they are not honored then does that make a case?

 

[jazzforu]

Absent a legally binding and enforceable contract that states otherwise, your former employer had the legal right to fire you for pretty much any reason. Google "at-will employment" for a complete definition of this legal concept.

Absent a CBA that states otherwise, employers are not legally required to increase their employees' pay at any time during their employment.

Regarding the "corporate bullying" I don't see a description of any bullying in your post. However, this is probably moot because most workplace bullying is perfectly legal.

Thank you for you response,

I understand the employer is not required to increase the pay but if they promise your verbally to do so and then not do it over 18 months yet reap the benefits of it, is that legal?

 

[jazzforu]

Unfortunately nothing you wrote suggests a good claim for wrongful termination. Employment in Virginia and every other state but one is "at will". At will employment at common law originally meant that both employer and employee were free to terminate the employment relationship at any time for any reason (or no reason at all). It remains true that employees can quit at any time for any reason. Employers are still largely free to terminate an employee at any time for just about any reason, but today there are a few limited reasons that an employer may not terminate an employee. The prohibited reasons include firing you because:

• of your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information under federal law (some states/localities add a few more categories like sexual orientation);
• you make certain kinds of reports about the employer to the government or in limited circumstances to specified persons in the employing company itself (known as whistle-blower protection laws);
• you participate in union organizing activities;
• you use a right or benefit the law guarantees you (e.g. using leave under FMLA);
• you filed a bankruptcy petition;
• your pay was garnished by a single creditor; and
• you took time off work to attend jury duty (in most states).

The exact list of prohibited reasons will vary by state. Your problem is that you've not said anything that indicates any of the situations listed above are the reason you were terminated. The employer does not need a good reason to fire you; all that matters is that the reason is not one of the few prohibited reasons like the ones listed above.

Of course if you had an employment contract for some specified period of time (e.g. 1 year, 5 years, etc) and that contract limited the reasons you could be fired or required good cause to fire you then if the employer breached that contract you would have a breach of contract case, not wrongful termination. That's also true if you were a member of a union that had a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the employer that limited the reasons for which the employer could fire you. That would be a breach of contract matter.

Feel free to consult an attorney or two in Virginia who litigates wrongful termination cases for a review of your situation to see if you have anything to pursue. Just be aware that you are likely to hear that there was no wrongful termination.

Thank you for your response,

Perhaps i missed a few details but i take your advise to consult with a local attorney.

I found this on the EEOC website on retaliation. According to EEOC: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/retaliation.cfm

• asking managers or co-workers about salary information to uncover potentially discriminatory wages.

Whats your take on this?