I was in charge of a new product, after 1.5 years of trying to sell the product (I was only there for 9 months of this time) they decided that sales were not what they expected and let me go. I believe that the product line has been cancelled as well however I don’t know that for sure. I am not the only person that was fearful of losing their job in the company. The boss seems to think that holding your job over your head is an excellent way to motivate workers. Since he started at the company there has been a 75% turnover in workers.
If your lawyer believes that you have a case for wrongful termination – Stop Posting About It! Listen to your lawyer and stop talking here.
I don’t see anything in what you’ve posted that would lead me to believe you have a case, but I’m not a lawyer and I suspect you haven’t posted all the pertinent details. My advice would be to chalk this up to a learning experience, put all your ducks in a row, and move on. It’s better for you in the long run. If you are in a relatively small industry this is not the way to go about establishing your reputation.
You seem to be under some kind of impression that this was an unusual and extraordinary situation you were in. It’s not. I am not sure how old you are but seem to have very little life experience and perspective at least when it comes to jobs. Countless people are in situations similar to what you describe and some will suffer on while others will quit or get canned themselves. Chances are that many of us will end up in another situation just like it again at some point and draw from those hard-learned lessons.
If you need me to spell it out, never trust a company you work for fully. You should always have your own exit strategies and contingency plans and one eye over your shoulder. Even if you, your boss, and your coworkers get along great together, that may not mean much when the shit hits the fan. Businesses are there for business and funny things can happen when it becomes a choice between people and the perceived welfare of the business itself regardless of what the facts justify.
Chalk it up to a hard lesson learned. Again, many of us have been there and it sucks badly but you can pick up and move on maybe even to something better. The best thing to focus on now is developing several levels of plans and figuring out a way to get a better job as soon as possible and being able to buy your own cell phone, laptop, Internet, land line, and car.
How in the world does dropping a line due to low sales equal wrongful termination? Wrongful termination is when they let you go for discriminatory reasons or whistleblowing or the like. Dropping a line and laying off the staff is normal course of business.
I hope you aren’t paying your attorney hourly, cause I think he’s taking you for his bill rate.
There is more to the story than what I’ve posted here that made me decide to contact a lawyer. While I may be young I am not and idiot.
This thread has become quite the pile-on and I have no idea why. Is it that strange to ask for more severance pay? Google leads me to think not. At this point what have I got to lose?
I can’t imagine a real company giving a damn about your desire to get a larger severance package. Sounds to me like you got a fairly standard deal - 2 weeks for every year of service around here, and since you didn’t last a year you’re not even getting that, but HR should have it all documented and deviation from that will get them in more trouble than you’re worth. Kind of a shitty deal, like Kalhoun says - two weeks for under a year is usually offered by decent companies (or two weeks base plus two weeks for every year completed, which would get you two weeks instead of one). I usually work for publicly traded companies, so they have a budget in place from the beginning and no wiggle room for anyone.
My lawyer recommended signing the paper, taking the money, stop wasting his time and start looking for another job.
Re: Unemployment. After the layoff I was eligible for unemployment after the period theoretically covered by my severance was done. I got 14 weeks pay, the government immediately took half of it, leaving with 7 weeks pay and 3 1/2 months to go before I could collect any money. So I just went ahead and got a job rather than try to hold out for anything extra.
As it’s only a week pay and possibly not a huge concern if you lose it, as long as you trust your lawyer, do what s/he says. Providing you’re honest with yourself and council and not just pursuing this because you’re angry about losing your job. Not uncommon really, many people seem to take layoffs personally the first few times.
Unasked for advice for the future - take the news with class, crack a polite joke or two with the person doing the deed (“Finally, I’ll get some fishing done!”) and keep in touch with your friends in the company (don’t badmouth it to them) and you move yourself up the list of potential rehires. Took 4 months, but a 50% pay increase and a 3 grade promotion was my reward - the guy that was a friend of the boss, had a better education, more experience and was caustic during the process was never considered.
Good luck! I hope it works out whatever you end up doing.
Then you have been treated no differently than 75% of the workers. Which, by the way, is an absolutely dismal turnover rate and a sign that you’re much better off out of there.
Really, give up this quest. I’m pretty sure your lawyer sees someone who’s devoted to making the Bad Guys pay to the extent that he can suck a nice pack of money out of you. He’s spotted someone he thinks is naive enough to think he can win this case and come out ahead. You’re money in the bank to him.
Your very smartest bet would be to spend the time you’d waste on this lawsuit (which will get you, at most, one more week of pay) looking for a new job and being very glad that you learned a bunch of valuable life lessons in your ‘dream’ job. Others have mentioned the lessons; I’ll reiterate:
Never, ever, depend on an employer. You are merely an expendable commodity and they will have no qualms about dropping you when it suits them.
Never, ever, expect that the items you are permitted to use for work are yours forever.
When next you are working, put aside three months’ worth of salary in the bank to keep you afloat should you ever fall into similar circumstances. And never expect a sales job to be a lifelong career; sales is not a stable career unless you maybe work for a department store.
Well, one thing you need to check on is whether or not your state allows you to collect unemployment if you accept severance pay. Two weeks is a pretty short job search window. Unemployment will pay for a year, and you may very well need it.
I am one of the few people I know who has negotiated and won additional benefits in a severance package. But I was in a unique situation. I was laid off at 7.5 months pregnant and they attempted to terminate my benefits. I negotiated and got them to pay for COBRA until after the baby was born. The only reason I could do this was the circumstances. If I hadn’t been pregnant and had asked, I probably wouldn’t have gotten anything more than the standard.
From the description you gave, I’d say you don’t have leverage for negotiation. Sorry, but there it is. I’m not a lawyer, though…
As for unemployment, I was able to collect, even with having a severance. PA law said it was allowed.
I’m guessing the “severance = no unemployment” refers to the fact that one cannot collect unemployment until after the severance has run out - e.g. if you get 2 weeks severance pay, you can’t apply for unemployment until the 2 weeks are done. That’s how it was the one time I was laid off (got 4-5 weeks severance, IIRC; this was in North Carolina).
Re the OP: My WAG is that the company doesn’t seem to think they’re at especially great risk of a wrongful-termination suit, or they’d be trying harder to buy you off. I’m not saying they’re right (you and your lawyer know the facts better than I do, obviously). My sister-in-law was forced out of a job where there was a strong likelihood she would win a gender-discrimination lawsuit and she strong-armed them into a very sweet severance package as she didn’t want the hassle of a lawsuit.