AndrewMeronek wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 2:38 pm
ghmerrill wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 2:32 pm
??? If they dismissed you "for cause," then you could normally fight that in some way or other -- if you really wanted to. But most employment now (absent some sort of contract) is "at will", and no reason needs to be given. So "defense" doesn't make much sense. And "We've decided to move in a different direction and your position is no longer necessary" ... or some such, is very popular. But they don't even have to say that.
They did give me a business justification, and I believe that they believed that reasoning. And yes "at will" was in play so they didn't have to even do that. So, at least them giving me a justification could be seen as a final sign of respect . . .
I don't know, this is actually the first time I've been laid off, which come to think of it is probably a bit unusual; I'd imagine that many people get this enjoyable first-time experience earlier in life. Spending a lot of time bouncing around schools and then being in the military (as a trombonist) did make my career path to becoming a Systems Engineer a bit unconventional.
Okay, I'm an attorney but don't take this as legal advice. See an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction, this is just for entertainment and general purposes, blah, blah, blah...
Was it a termination or a layoff? Those two terms are different, and the difference is legally significant in most jurisdictions.
Even in an "at will" employment situation, you can be terminated "without reason," but not for an unlawful reason. For instance, if they are terminating all the older employees who make more money and are keeping the younger employees who are cheaper, that could be actionable and you could be entitled to compensation and/or your job back (though at this point it's not wise to go back). The same is true for a number of other possible reasons, depending on jurisdiction.
If you are "laid off" for lack of business, then in most U.S. jurisdictions they are required to rehire you before hiring a new employee to take over your job. It's more complicated in a "restructuring," but the same rules generally apply.
Of course, sometimes companies engage in terminations and improperly call it "layoffs." I don't know what the situation is with you.
Those severance packages are always subject to renegotiation if you have a good basis for it. Good basis usually means they did something unlawful and you have the right to file a lawsuit, but you'll renegotiate the severance to include waiving the right to file the lawsuit you could file. (However, most companies require you to waive all potential legal action against them in exchange for the severance money. And however to that, you can often argue that the the severance agreement can be voided if you weren't offered sufficient opportunity to obtain advice of counsel, etc.) Renegotiating the severance pay to include waiver of your lawsuit rights can sometimes get you substantially more money. I know. I've done many such renegotiations on both sides of that table, and I've also represented employees and employers who have gone to litigation for wrongfully terminating employees (e.g., all the old ones are let go and the younger ones are retained...and even younger ones replacing the terminated older employees).
You'll need an attorney licensed in whatever jurisdiction you're in to evaluate your prospects. I'll tell you that every attorney worth retaining will do a consultation with you for FREE, so you lose nothing by at least showing the severance agreement to an attorney and having a discussion to find out what your legal rights are, whether you decide to exercise them or not.
Good luck!
) can help a lot with this. But a good résumé is absolutely critical. And aggressive follow-up to any application is always a good idea. Don't expect to just cast your bread upon the waters and catch a job offer on the incoming tide.
(No "buyout offer".) And these were cases where she was running a fairly large department of highly skilled people -- all of whom were flushed in short order. One was what had been a red-hot telecommunications company and second-largest employer in the area (on the fringe of RTP). Growing steadily and aggressively for several years. Alas, it had quickly and aggressively built its code base using C++ and heavy use of class multi-inheritance. It got to a point where they literally couldn't debug it and the whole major project and company collapsed and disappeared in a matter of a few months. The year previously, they'd moved into a new headquarters they'd had built. Live by the technology, die by the technology -- or maybe live by the management, die by the management. 
