Odd (Un)Employment Situation

In My Humble Opinion
1

I figured I would hit up the Teeming Millions for a bit of an employment (or unemployment) sanity check.

The company for which I worked separated all but one member of our Engineering group on the afternoon of May 2nd, in what appears to be a poorly thought-out manner.

The day after this we received the FedEx packages with our separation notice, COBRA information, etc. In this packet our termination was noted as being effective April 30th, yet we worked an entire day before being notified. No severance package was mentioned, and apparently HR told some of my other former co-workers “they hadn’t decided yet”. There was no reimbursement of unused vacation time (yet).

This sudden termination was a problem medically as well, as my chronically-ill wife had an appointment on that same day (half an hour after I received the call from HR, actually). I spoke to the HR person (such as she is) further on the day I received the packet and she said she was working to extend the medical insurance to the end of the month – as a favor to all of us – as we were not the only people in that situation. She said not to worry about it, as she hadn’t had the time to contact the BC/BS plan to inform them, so don’t bother filing the COBRA papers sent, because she would have to re-send them with the updated effective termination date. Since then, I’ve not heard from her, and attempts to contact her through email have been fruitless. This is becoming worrisome, as my wife has her monthly steroid infusion next week. Obviously, with this being important to her health, we will pay out of pocket if necessary, but not knowing is a bit frustrating.

Complicating this further is my unemployment situation. I worked out of my home office in MA, while the company (or the group for which I worked) is based in CA. When I went to the unemployment office, the woman there told me that there was no record of me working for that company at all (i.e., no UI paid), in any of the states I could come up with they may have done so. She went on to say that in that case I should file for unemployment in whatever state the W-2 came from, which was CA. So I called CA unemployment and sure enough, no record of me. Apparently they will initiate an “investigation” and when they’ve sorted things out, I can start collecting (at a rate ~$200 less than MA unemployment, to add insult to injury!).

It’s not the first evidence of HR/Payroll idiocy, as they double-charged me for my health insurance for more than a year before they changed plans, said the premium would be going up a little, and found mine decrease by 50%. They refunded me the overpayment, but still.

Is this just rampant HR incompetence, or is this actionable stuff?

2

My experience is most companies do not hire professionals for the HR office. I could fill pages of goof stories by HR. If you ever work for an employeer with professional HR people working in HR you will be suprised how well things are handled.

3

Talk to a lawyer.

4

Ditto.

  1. the bit about termination being effective BEFORE you were given notice.
  2. no notice at all?
  3. no UI paid means the company is in violation of some significant laws. I do hope you have pay stubs!!
5

The box ad in the middle of the page is rather appropriate for an unresponsive, failed HR dept post.

**Service Unavailable

HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.**

6

It doesn’t sound intentional as much as a lot of disorganization.

OK first of all when exactly was your last day when you physically worked.

One of my big beefs when I worked in H/R was decisions were made the day before and they would let people come into work the next day to be told to go home, you’re no longer working here.

As for COBRA, a lot depends on how the insurance is paid off.

When I started in H/R every company would pay up through the end of the month. Then it became weekly, then daily. The problem is it LOOKS as if you pay daily but the payments are set up so the company can terminate you daily.

For instance, let’s say the company pays $100 a week for your insurance. Of this they pay $80 and you pay $20.

But the payments are alloted daily so each day of the week is paid $14.285 per day. This allows a company to terminate you on Tuesday and pay only for Sun, Mon that’s it.

You have a time period whether or not to choose COBRA. So as long as you choose to get COBRA and MAKE YOUR PAYMENT, you will be covered. Not right away but you’ll be covered retroactively. I’ve had this a lot and it always gets straightened out. Many times I had to pay up front and then I get the money back after a bit. Of course this doesn’t help if you don’t have the money to pay up front.

You said, you already applied for unemployment in MA and CA? Well my advice is always apply for unemployment and do it ASAP, NEVER WAIT.

Unemployment will generally retroactively compensate you if it’s there error and there is no intention of fraud.

I feel bad for the OP as they are getting screwed over. But honestly, I would say it’s just carelessness of the H/R dept and not intentional. I’ve seen this enough to know. You have to realize H/R is there to serve the COMPANY’S interests not the employees. And they certainly have no interest in the ex-employees.

S

7

The -1 day notice is obviously illegal, but maybe not worth going after. However, if the layoff qualifies under the federal or California WARN act, you may due 60 days of salary in lieu of notice.

8

We’re putting threads seeking legal advice into IMHO, so let me move that thither for you.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

9

Thank you all very much for your feedback!

You hit the nail on the head. This is actually a straight-up case of nepotism.

No notice at all. I was working, it was around 3 PM, and I started around 5 AM. I actually worked all weekend as well, which had been the case for months. First indication was suddenly I lost my VPN connection to one of the data centers, but I just chalked that up to an IT glitch. Within 20 minutes I got the call from “HR”.

I have every pay stub and W-2. I will consider a lawyer, but I’d rather not use what savings I have tilting at windmills. We’ll see what happens with CA EDD.

Thank you, that makes me feel better. My wife called in her very expensive prescription yesterday, and they always do a preliminary approval and it went through and was delivered today, so apparently we do still have coverage.

I went to the MA UI office on Tuesday, after being terminated on Monday afternoon. The lady there looked me up in the system across all the states I could think of where they might have paid into, and was found in none at all. With no serverance, nor unused vacation (as of yet) paid, I’m strictly working off of my savings, which thankfully we have for just this sort of occurrence.

Yeah, one day probably isn’t worth the hassle, and I’m sure they could get around the WARN act, as we were a small group.

First phone interview on Monday, and I’m a freaking wreck already. I hate interviews; I am just no good at selling myself. I hope I swing it, because this company actually has a pretty nice benefits package and seems like a good place to work.

Thank you all again!

10

I just wanted to jump on the pile about HR personnel. They are the worst. Incompetent, dishonest, lazy, and generally a blight on society. Some of their responsibilities include:

Preventing qualified job applicants from getting an interview
Losing or not filing important forms
Telling employees their conversations with HR will be confidential, then repeating the conversation with management
Promising to help terminated employees with out-placement, then doing nothing
Telling their friends about any confidential ‘dirt’ they come across
Providing the most inaccurate and harmful answers to questions about employment rules and regulations
Showing up late, leaving early, and taking long lunches.

11

Update: I received my final payout today; it included the extra day worked, accrued vacation and PTO. The PTO was unexpected, as I don’t think that’s required legally. I assume this means no actual severance. Sigh.

Thanks again for everyone’s input! Now, who’s got some Ativan to send me for Monday? :wink: