Legal help? I got it in writing, but they're taking it away anyway...

Factual Questions
1

Short version:

I’m a tech writer. I’ve worked at my company for two and a half years. I have telecommuted 60% since my second week of employment. ( at home every MWF).

When I started the office was a 90 minute drive from my home. The telecommute was granted in acknowledgement of this, but also as a general benefit in lieu of a higher salary. That agreement was verbal.

Two years ago they tried to take it away. My boss fought for me, and I have an email from him stating that “anybody who was hired with the understanding that they could telecommute can continue to do so.” And so I have, without problems until now.

A few months ago they moved the office to San Francisco, which is about 10 miles from my home. At that time they allowed a few of the people who now have to travel farther to start telecommuting, but they tried to give me the same letter that everyone else got to sign. It had two paragraphs which said “Company reserves the right to revoke this privilege at any time.”

I refused to sign it, with the support of my boss, as there had never before been a “we can take it away any time we please” clause spelled out. Eventually HR gave me a letter that says this:
We will evaluate this arrangement on a regular basis to ensure that your work quality, efficiency and productivity, as well as that of your department, are not compromised and are consistent with the needs of the company.

It’s dated July 22, and I signed it. Now they’ve announced that they’re revoking it entirely, without giving a reason, although in a meeting I had with the VP (who couldn’t even look me in the eye when he said it) he said that he was doing this because it’s “not fair to everyone else”.

I have ample email, just from within the last week congradulating me on pulling off a miracle and producing way above expectations, which would seem to mean that my work quality, efficiency, and productivity are consistent with the needs of the company.

I’m currently looking for another job. It’s not really worth it to me to hire a lawyer and actually sue these yahoos, but I would like to buy a little time.

I’ve done a little poking around with the state labor websites, but there isn’t really anything that applies to me, or at least not until after I’ve been fired, and I’d like to avoid that.

Any suggestions of where to look for precedents that will back me up and keep them out of my hair for a while?
BTW - I know spoiled and bratty it sounds - poor slacker, has to go to the office every day, but I’ve been running a senior level project for them for two years, at entry level pay and title. The telecommute is the one thing that kept my stress down to the point where it was worth sticking around. Not anymore. I’m outta here, I just would like some more time to do it right, and maybe stick it to them, just a little. :slight_smile:

2

IANAL, but it seems to me that unless you have a signed, sealed employment contract that spells out where your work is to be performed, you don’t have a leg to stand on. If you don’t like it, you’re free to find another position.

As long as an employer isn’t subjecting you to unhealthy or dangerous conditions, the employer has the right to decide where the work is going to be performed, absent a contractual agreement to the contrary (either an individual agreement or one with a union).

3

It really doesn’t sound like they’re being entirely unreasonable given that you’re only 10 miles from the office which makes the entire premise of telecommuting sort of questionable. I recall reading in a few different places that a lot of the TC programs started in the 90’s have been scaled back or eliminated entirely at many companies as the reality of TC hasn’t really matched the promise and companies prefer to have their people onsite unless there is some physical/psychological disability or hardship involved in getting in to work.

If it’s really that stressful for you in a corporate business environment you should continue pursuing another job. In the mean time there’s really no reason to piss the adminstration off with legal action if you want decent references. If another company you apply to hears that you’re suing your current employer over a 10 mile drive to the office they are not (fairly or unfairly) likely to think of you as a team player.

4

I know that. Like I said in the OP, I’m not going to sue them. It’s not worth the time or effort. I’d just like to buy myself a little time to get out and into something else.

Being in a corporate environment isn’t stressful in and of itself. Being on a team that was reduced from 17 to 2, without a reduction in workload expected of the team is. And still being called entry level despite running a major project that three senior writers used to do together is.

I’m not worried about references. My boss and project managers support me a hundred percent in this - they know I couldn’t produce as much for them as I do if I had to be in the office every day. In fact, it was my boss who warned me I was about to be blindsided by this, and it was he who suggested I look for some legal help.

If I’m screwed, I’m screwed. Just thought I’d ask.

5

I think you know the answer. The phrase you quoted has the wonderful umbrella phrase “needs of the company.”

[quote]
We will evaluate this arrangement on a regular basis to ensure that your work quality, efficiency and productivity, as well as that of your department, are not compromised and are consistent with the needs of the company.
[/quotes]

6

NOTE: The following is offered for entertainment purposes only! It is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, you should contact an attorney licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction

In California, if you don’t have a written employment contract saying otherwise, you are what’s called an “at-will employee.” Translation: they can fire you at anytime for any reason or even no reason (but not an illegal reason, e.g because you’re a paraplegic, pregnant, black, jewish lesbian) In other words, they are free to change the terms of your employment and fire you if you don’t agree to the new terms.

In sum, you’re out of luck. Your best bet is to try a bit of negotiation. “Look,” you say, “Part of my compensation is being able to work from home. If you want me to come in every day, I’m going to have additional transportation expenses, I’ll have to buy more clothes for the office, I’ll have to spend money for lunch, etc., etc. I’m a team player, so I’ll come in if you really want me to, but you’re going to have to pony up some extra cash, otherwise I can’t afford to work here for the long term and I’ll have to start hunting for another job.”

7

You can also simply be polite but stubborn. Don’t come in MWF but continue to work from home. Respond to any correspondence chewing you out for this by responding with email stating that this is not acceptable to you and therefore is not going to happen, and that it is your hope that they can accomodate this situation rather than viewing it as a deal-breaker. The at-will employment situation works on both sides of the equation. You would like to stay and continue working for them, you really would (or so you say ;)) but this violates the conditions of your hire and you would not have taken the job under these proposed new circumstances, etc etc.

8

Yeah, AHunter, I’m seriously considering that.

The truth is, I really don’t want to leave. Aside from the bonehead VP, I really like the work I do and the people I do it with. I have the best boss in the history of bosses.

But I also know that the stress of being in the office every day would wreck that. I’ve survived 7 rounds of layoffs in the last two years (which should tell you that I’m a little bit important to their bottom line) and I’ve truly been the one reasonably happy employee through the entire process, mostly because I’m not in the office enough to really absorb the depression there.

9

You should email the bonehead VP’s boss(CC the bonehead as well) when you leave.

State for the record why you are leaving and mention that if “productivity” drops it is due to the bonehead’s decision to
“make you leave”.

And when the productivity does drop, the smug bonehead doesn’t get his/her bonus.

10

Tempting, BwanaBob, but these kinds of revenge fantasies have a nasty way of bouncing back in your face, like when some future prospective employer decides to make a few phone calls to previous employers, and gets the “smug bonehead” on the phone, who then proceeds to provide one of those frosty “yes, that person worked here” responses that gives the prospective employer the hint that maybe you’re not a very good candidate for the job.

11

Slackergirl, could this be an attempt at constructive dismissal? That is, they don’t want to out-and-out fire you, but they don’t want you anyway. So they make conditions as unpalatable as possible (legally), hoping that you will just quit.

What made me think of this was your mention of the following:

They gave no reason, and the best you could get from the VP was that it wasn’t fair. Further, it doesn’t sound like anybody evaluated the arrangement at all–otherwise, why wouldn’t they say so? Even a simple statement to you like, “No, we looked at it and we don’t think it’s working” would satisfy the evaluation requirements. You can see where it’s a short jump from there to “she doesn’t want to play our game, so we’ll make her leave.”

The best thing to do might be to check your state’s employment statutes thoroughly, and perhaps to speak personally with someone in your state’s labor department. Websites are fine, but they tend to be “all things to all people” in my experience, and it sounds like you need something more specific.

But if it turns out that they really don’t want you, do you really want to stay? Life in the corporate world isn’t always easy for a technical writer, and I’m speaking from experience; I’m one myself. And one thing I have found is that if a company’s values shift in such a way that they feel that technical writers aren’t needed (and it happens), then you are indeed better off finding someplace else to work instead of fighting it.

12

One aspect you might want to investigate is under what conditions you would be eligible for unemployment insurance, assumming this matters to you. If you quit on your own for practically any reason you are no longer eligible. If the company fires you because you insist on telecomummuting … I don’t know.

13

My advice:

(1) Take any vacation you have right now and use the time to find a better job.

(2) When you have said job just about nailed down, go back to management and tell them that, unless they honor your original telecommuting agreement, you will be forced to quit and take this new job.

(3) See what happens. My guess is you’ll be going to a new job.
Really, your situation is exactly comparable to an employee whose pay has been slashed 20%. Does that employee have any recourse? Absent genuine contracts (and I doubt those e-mailed assurances are strong enough defense) or a labor union, the only recourse is to quit. That’s the brutality of the free market.

I’m not sure what you need in terms of “a little time”. If time is more valuable than money in this instance, then hire a lawyer just to start sending them threatening letters and making calls while you work at home and look for another job. (In other words, hire the lawyer strictly with the intention of making some noise and causing some delay–not actually taking them all the way to court.)

14

“Changing the terms of employment” is said to be grounds for quitting and qualifying for unemployment in California. That is, you may quit but not be dinged for leaving voluntarily.

Please check with the state unemployment department before taking this for gospel, however.

…The money issue is interesting also. You might find having twice as much income is almost as nice as working from home. And later in your life, you might be gladder and gladder you went for money, for various reasons.

15

I called the unemployment people, and they said that I will still qualify for unemployment if I decide to refuse to accept the new terms and basically dare them to fire me - because I have the letter and a boss who will back me in a telephone interview by saying that my performance is not a factor and he did not want to fire me. I’m hoping it doesn’t go that far, but at least I’m covered in the worst case.

I have another company with a hiring manager that wants to hire me very badly (at full telecommute, but occasional travel to client sites, which I fully dig. Paris? You betcha) but she may not have a position funded for another month or two. It’s a company that has quadrupled in size during the downturn, because they’re smart. I’m pretty sure that the position will really exist, I just don’t know the timetable.

The money issue is a sticky one. The bottom line is, I’m not hurting. I make a good living, and I’m a fan of living below my means anyway, I just make a lot less than many other writers who run hardcore API documentation projects. It’s a fairly rare skill because many English majors are a terrified of code. I happen to like both and take extra programming classes for giggles.

The free time and flexibility has allowed me to really have a life. I would have bitched a little bit, but with the telecommute I would have gladly stayed put for another few years because of the life I can have outside of work.

Honestly, between the trade of making another $30,000 and having time, I’ll take the latter any day.

16

As a person that has dealt recently with H/R I would say you may wish to consult a lawyer IF you want to keep the job.

Legally the probably can change your job. As stated you could quit and as long as it’s properly documented collect unemployment.

In my last job I handled systems in a hotel. I found that often the threat of a lawyer gets results.

We had a regional controller and he was sexually harrassing a reservationist. Now part of my job was to monitor the internet and email. I really never did much with this.

Anyway this controller kept asking out this reservationist she kept saying no. He was sending her emails vividly describing his body parts and what he wanted to do with her body parts.

Now this girl was in tears and I went to H/R and they told me to keep out of it. H/R did nothing but discourage this girl from persuing her right within the company (she was only 19).

I went to corporate and said that this was creating a hostile working environment to me. (Having to monitor this crap) Corporate told me to shut up and mind my own business. I of course had to monitor these emails. I got fed up had a lawyer friend of mine write a letter to corporate threating action (not a suit just legal action) within 24 hours both the Regional Controller and the director of H/R were fired.

This is just one example I have found in my 20 some years of working. H/R I have found, is basically a tool of management. But when I have issues, I politely (key is nicely) say…“I’m not gonna argue, You get a lawyer I will get one and they will fight it out. That is why we have them.” It has always worked.

So basically though the company may have a right to change anything they say, legal help will put them into action. They are counting on you to be afraid and inert.

17

Yeah, the threat of a lawyer is often times a lot more effective than actually suing. A well placed letter from an attorney can work wonders.

I’ve taken actions for unpaid time through the labor board, and I’ve also sued for hostile work enviornment in the past. I won every time, but the stress is just not worth it to me. I’m only hoping to maximize the time I’ve got.

The only way I’m keeping the job is if I quit and they offer me more money (and the telecommute) to come back. I just need to get into the best position to pull that off (the quitting, that is).