Should I take this to court?

In My Humble Opinion
1

On Friday, January 30, I was fired from a very good position at a very large and well-respected healthcare company. Let me give you the timeline of events and please give me your thoughts on whether I have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.

November 21, 2003: Received summons from the County Circuit Court to appear for Jury selection on January 22, 2004.

November 24, 2003: Informed supervisor that I will be out for Jury Duty on that day. She indicates she understands.

January 15, 2004: Reminded my supervisor that I will be attending Jury Duty in a week.

January 21, 2004: Once again reminded my supervisor that I will be out the next day for Jury Duty.

January 22, 2004: Attended Jury selection. Sat and waited eight hours before being called. Was herded into courtroom; didn’t answer “yes” to any questions. Selected for jury and told to return in the morning. Arrived home, called supervisor to inform her that I would be out the next day and possibly until Tuesday.

January 23, 2004: Arrived home from the first day of court to find a voicemail from my supervisor that something wrong happened while I was away and to call her. Given that it was 8 o’clock that night and I would be going into work the next day (Saturday), I didn’t call.

January 24, 2004: Arrived into work to find a slew of problems on my desk. Worked for four hours to get fixed what could be fixed on a Saturday. Emailed supervisor acknowledgement of issues and possible fixes. Went home.

January 26, 2004: Courts closed due to inclement weather. Went to work, since work would still be open during a nuclear holocaust. Supervisor had a “family emergency” and did not come in. Couldn’t get many issues resolved, since every business, government agency, and consultant was off except us.

January 27-29, 2004: After closing arguments and 12 hours of deliberation, the case has finished. It went two days longer than expected, and every night I called my supervisor and left a message to tell her I would be out the next day.

January 30, 2004: Arrived into work and asked to coming into my supervisor’s office. When asked why there were so many issues, I gently explained that I was out for jury duty for a week and tried to attend to what I could. When she explained that I should’ve called every day, I gently, but more firmly explained to her that we were either in the courtroom or the deliberation room all day, with no access to a phone. She replied that that was no excuse and I should’ve called my co-worker when I got home (I don’t have my co-worker’s home number). At that point, she informed me that today would be my last day at the company. She asked that I gather my things and be escorted out. I asked if I could come back at 5:30pm that day when there’s fewer people and she agreed. She called me at 3:00 and told me to come in on Monday to get my things.

February 2, 2004: Arrived at my former place of employment. Asked the security guard if he would escort me to my desk and escort me out. He agreed and I gathered my things. Walked out of the company for the final time.

Now before you make a decision, let me also add that per the employee handbook, we are guaranteed an exit interview upon termination, which I never received. I also have the key-card to get into the building, which they never asked for me to return.

I spoke to an employment lawyer who informed me that we could try the case, but there would be a $2,500 retainer fee. She also charges $275 per hour after the initial $2,500 gets used up, and $85 per hour for paralegal services. I have the option of taking it to District Court, where my award would be capped at $25,000, or Circuit Court, where there is no award cap. However, if I take it to Curcuit Court, my former company has a right to ask for a trial by jury, which my lawyer said would not be in my best interest.

One more thing: I’m not pursuing this for the money, although recouping my lost wages would be nice. What I’m really interested in is a written apology and a neutral or good recommendation to any future perspective employers.

So what do you all think? Do I have a case? Being in the healthcare industry, the company deals with a multidude of lawsuits daily. But what would they do in my situation?

Thank you also for reading such a long-winded post.

  • Adam
2

Oh, and please let me add that I have no disciplinary history whatsoever with the company. I worked there for a little over a year, and it would be time now for my first performance appraisal, which obviously didn’t get done.

  • Adam
3

IANAL etc.

I would absolutely retain the attorney but not take it immediately to court. I would first review the company handbook for what it says about being excused for jury duty and, if your supervisor didn’t follow that policy to the letter (and you did) have your lawyer send a letter to the appropriate people at the company advising them of their failure to follow company policy and requesting reinstatement without prejudice and reimbursement for expenses incurred as a result of the wrongful termination. I don’t know what state you’re in or what your state or the federal goverment offers by way of guarantees about employees getting time off for jury duty but if the company didn’t adhere to those laws that should also be mentioned in the letter. If they refuse to reinstate you, then sue wherever you can get the most money. What your supervisor did is reprehensible and probably illegal and while you’re not in it for the money your company ought to pay for it.

I would forget about demanding a written apology, though. Since even if they reinstate you they may still be civilly liable they probably not only won’t apologize but they’ll ask you to sign something relinquishing any additional claims against the company, and including language that the company admits no liability.

As for the exit interview, you can always call HR and request it. Request a copy of everything in your personnel file as part of that process. Ask the HR person what company policy is regarding references. Many employers, for fear of lawsuits, will only confirm dates of employment.

4

OK dammit, I had a long reply typed out and I lost it.

To sum up:
Contact the office of the presiding judge in the case and explain it to them. Judges get unpleasent if the authority of their court is challanged. Messing with jurors is bad mojo.

They may be of some help.

f’in hamsters

5

Definately file suit.

IMO, you’re supervisor screwed something major up and made you the scapegoat. I suspect what supervisor told you and what supervisor told his/her boss is *drastically * different.

6

IANAA, but I would think that a jury would be sympathetic to anyone who got fired for being on jury duty!

At any rate, I would at least contact the District Attorney’s office of the office of the court that summoned you for jury duty. I feel reasonably certain that firing you was illegal.

Please let us know how it goes!

7

Agreed, what could possibly be a better argument than asking the jury how they would feel if they got fired when the case was done?

That said, I very much like Etherman’s response.

8

There’s probably a statute that bars your employer from firing you for serving on a jury. I’d go with the letter first rather than jumping into litigation.

9

IANAL. but if you work for a large well-respected company it means that your supervisor has many layers of supervisors/executives above her. why not start by asking her supervisor–or maybe a couple levels higher-- whether your termination reflects company policy. it’s at least possible that your supervisor is a loon and her bosses don’t know it–yet.

10

Here’s the part I don’t get. A host of problems arise because of FoamFighters brief absence, so the answer is to fire FF? How do these problems get solved by removing the person that can solve them?

FFs former supervisor is an idiot.

11

Sorry, I don’t have much advice…what I do know is that reading your post makes me SOOO angry…I hate shit like this…it seems like if everything you say is true, some sort of justice you should be entitled to, and I hope that you get it.

12

I’d shop around. There may be a lawyer who will take your case for a percentage of whatever you get out of these shitheads. On the other hand, who wants to work with these shitheads in the first place. Move on, but get 'em where it hurts first.

13

The fact your lawyer didn’t offer to work on a contigency kind of hints at what your real chances of winning are.

14

It’s equally likely that the retainer is a reflection of the small amounts which are likely to come out of any verdict or settlement. Or it may be that this particular lawyer doesn’t take cases on a contingency basis.

15

January 30, 2004: Arrived into work and asked to coming into my supervisor’s office. When asked why there were so many issues, I gently explained that I was out for jury duty for a week and tried to attend to what I could. When she explained that I should’ve called every day, I gently, but more firmly explained to her that we were either in the courtroom or the deliberation room all day, with no access to a phone. She replied that that was no excuse and I should’ve called my co-worker when I got home (I don’t have my co-worker’s home number). At that point, she informed me that today would be my last day at the company. She asked that I gather my things and be escorted out. I asked if I could come back at 5:30pm that day when there’s fewer people and she agreed. She called me at 3:00 and told me to come in on Monday to get my things.

Your Supervisor is an ignorant wench. Jury duty is a civic obligation, and kudos to you for not shirking out of your civic duty. I am not a lawyer, but I have been an employer for over 20 years. And I know that it is verboten to discipline/fire/sanction an employee for their service on jury duty.

I would second Etherman’s suggestion to contact the presiding judge of the case you were involved in. He could give your former supervisor an education in civic duty and how it pertains to employment guidelines (in your state, your jurisdiction.)

You have my sympathy; the very first time I was called for jury duty I ended up on a 10 day trial (that was in the national news, do a search for “Jack Harelson” “Grave Robbing”, you’ll get the picture.) Jury duty is not something we look forward to, but we all have to do it at some time or another. When was the last time your former supervisor had jury duty? Or did she weasel out of it, pleading a gangrenous hang-nail?

16

IANAL.

Contact the judge, pronto.

Judges don’t like employers screwing with jurors. When judges find out about stuff like this, they typically go have a little chat with the employer in question about civic duties and laws requiring employers to hold jobs for employees on jury duty, etc. You may be able to get your job back.

As far as suing, you can try but probably won’t win. From what I understand of employment law, it’s damn hard to win a wrongful termination suit. However, if your company violated their own policy and you can get a lawyer to point this out to them, they may be willing to settle out of court. They won’t look good going into court and telling a judge and jury that they fired you right after you were on jury duty :slight_smile:

17

Ditto. One of the unstated rules of life is that it can be hazardous to intrude upon a judge’s authority.

Also, judges can be pretty effective at working out solutions.

Let us know how things turn out.

18

I thank you all for your empathy and sincerity. I still have yet to make a decision, but I will definitely let you all know how it turns out.

  • Adam
19
  • Talk to the Judge.
  • Talk to your bosses boss.
  • If you’re lucky enough to be long distance from your boss, collect the phone bills showing the calls you made to her that she denied as the cornerstone for firing you, and present those to the bosses boss.
  • Decide what you want. Forget about a good recommendation; even if you win it, you’d be a fool to actually use your supervisor as one. An apology is silly (in my opinion). You don’t really want your job back either; things will just be rough there forever working for this woman. You don’t really want an exit interview; that’s also just silly. Cash is all that’s left. Decide what’s fair severance pay, possibly with the assistance of your lawyer. For being there a year, two months salary is probably a good number to shoot for.
  • Ask your lawyer how many hours it will take to win this case. Of course they’ll say they don’t know (see below for more on my disdain of lawyers and paying people by the hour), so push until you get an answer, including a cap of the hours they’ll spend. Then do the math of what you will likely spend against what you could get back. Unfortunately, it’s very likely the math won’t work.

But…

  • Something’s funky here. Yes, your boss could be a total idiot and a jerk, but I really can’t help feeling there’s some other reason she wanted to let you go before all this. If you’re being upfront about all this, then by all means fight. But if there’re other things afoot, beware they’ll certainly be thrown in your face.

b) The fact that the lawyer won’t take your case on contingency should tell you something.

c) It’s a really bad idea to hire a lawyer (or anyone else for that matter) by the hour, instead of by the project. People paid by the hour are interested in spending hours on you. People paid for the project are interested in delivering your project to you. Best of all are people who are paid to win a project, because then they are interested in winning for you. If you go forward with this, with a lawyer working by the hour, watch very carefully what they do. Do NOT just trust them to go win your case for you; they will find every reason to pour as many billable hours in as possible. (Sorry to be so cynical, but I’ve worked with a number of lawyers as part of business, and every time without exception, I’ve been very disappointed in how badly they spin, investigate tangents, and excessively over-bill. It’s not their fault; it’s yours for incenting them to rack up un-needed hours).

20

Check your state law on jury duty. The odds are that the state law says that the employer must grant time off for jury duty, and may not fire you for taking that time off. Still, you MUST verify what your state’s law says, as that is the legal basis for your position.

Document the entire timeline like crazy. Assume that you’ll have to prove each point you’ve told us before a jury.

Write the letter to your company, based on your evidence.

Actually filing suit is the option of last resort. You want to collect enough evidence to win, so the company will settle.

Personally, I suggest you not seek reinstatement with the same boss. Whether or not your boss did not know the law, they are likely to try like crazy to get you re-fired should you return to work for them. Why do I say this? Think of it from their point of view: You just proved them wrong on an employment matter, and they may be in trouble because of that.

And keep the key card. After the issue has been resolved, see if the key card still works. :slight_smile: