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[ViciousNoob]

I am stuck. I have no one to ask this to, so who better than my brothers and sisters here on my beloved VTX board?


As some of you know, I was fired last week as a "cost cutting" measure. Truthfully, the fact that I was released does not bother me. I understand business. I understand simple economics....Supply and Demand... The demand for the product is not there, so the supply slows. The supply slows and the need for employees goes down. People get fired. It happens.


What bothers me is the situations leading up to this whole mess......


I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. I have been a contractor at a nanomanufacturing company in Austin. 18 months ago, the company I worked for lost the contract. So I flew to India, while awaiting unemployment, to train the new company. When I got back, the VP at the Fortune 500 company demanded that the new company hire me, so all was good. For the first 12 months, things were great. I was the go-to guy. Hell, I even rode motorcycles with the CIO of the company we contract for twice! My work was never questioned, and instead, all my suggestions were put into procedure docs. Things were going GREAT! I was the bees knees...Then the s**t hit the fan.

My manager was moved to a new account and this other Indian guy was brought in from Minnesota. He is my age, and what I thought was a nice enough guy. Come to find out, when he feels threatened, he turns into the devil. After he had been there for 6 weeks and I TRAINED HIM, suddenly I was useless in my company's eyes. I was even told by my overseas friends that the new manager said in a manager's meeting that "Mike looks out for AMAT (the company we contract for) too much". Hell, I thought that if you were hired by a company to do a job, you did your best to make the hiring company happy (within reason, and nothing to harm your company). Guess I was wrong. Then suddenly I was asked to send management a copy of my calendar so they could audit my meetings. Then I had to start filling out a timesheet (88 lines of different "tasks") down to the 15 minute timeframe of my daily schedule. My managers would tell me to do one thing, the Director something else, and the Sr. Director yet a third way. I started saving my emails for documentation purposes. My Director would send emails copying (no BS here) 15 people stating that I screwed up by doing something i was told not to. So I replied to all, attaching the email that the Director had sent me telling me to do exactly what I did. I got an a$$ ripping for "copying too many people in the email". It got so bad that I had to report them (my manager and Director) to HR because of the way I was treated. This was actually a suggestion from my VP after he saw what was happening, but they all run from conflict, so he would not do anything. I was about to be written up and put on a Personal Improvement Plan, but I sent my documentation to HR. They researched the issue, and all "charges" were dropped. After that, my management LITERALLY did not talk to me for 90 days, walking 150 yards down a different hall so they would not pass by my cube. I, along with 4 of the other Americans, are the only ones who did not get a review, Goals and Objective discussion, or even a job description.

This is the crap I have been dealing with. I could go on for pages, but you get the basic idea.

Here's the LAST kicker. I am/was one of 7 "non-Indians" of the 150 that work for the company. I say WAS because one of us was fired 4 months ago and replaced by an Indian that was flown in from Chennai. The hispanic girl went on maternity leave, and was sent an email saying that she didn't need to come back (AMAT demanded that she was brought back, and she was). I was told to research to see if I could combine two of the positions that two of the white guys held into one so we could release one of the two. Now, I, along with another white guy who is the #1 network support tech, was released for cost cutting. They figure that my position (managing 46 NORTH AMERICA desktop technicians and managing the NORTH AMERICAN computer return/refresh depot) can better be done from India.


I have been told by numerous people at the company we contract at that I should file a discrimination suit, as it was that obvious what was happening. Do you guys think, from the limited information I have posted here, that I should persue something like that? I welcome your opinions on this....


-Mike

[bayou-biker]

what a bunch of crap - I feel for you man
Texas is not an easy state to challenge getting fired. However, if I was in your shoes, I would definitely talk to a couple of lawyers for their feedback. They would likely assess what evidence you have to see if there's a case.   Heck - why not contact the ACLU !
Good luck to you.

[ViciousNoob]

Thanks, bro.... I appreciate it!!

[hobo]

Been there. It sucks. I agree with the advise from bayou-biker. If your documentation is intact, sounds like you may have a case. Good luck.

[Dusty]

If I read it right, they can not claim reduction in force because they filled the position. They didn't leave the positions vacant. They cannot deny your unemployment. Not the issue but wanted to throw that out.

The fact that they have filled the positions with other sand Geese (you PC folks can KMA) instead of trying to keep a balance of ethnicity makes it an even better case for discrimination!

My experience with these people (I have an Iranian Engineer that I deal misery to every chance I get AND IT'S WORKING!) is that thier idea of a good business deal is if the person they are conducting business with gets the shitty end of the stick. There is no win win in thier minds. It's yea me and screw you!

I say release the hounds on the bastards. Get a huge settlement, and slap a fine on thier Cranberries! Hell, run them out of the country if possible, your case is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Buy American and take our country back! My GP Dr. is an Indian and I fired him in Sept. I'm going to inform him this morning!  We may not be able to close the borders, but we can damn sure starve them to death.

[POGOGOLF]

Unfortunately, your sole possible "remedy" probably lies within either an A.D.E.A. (age discrimination...depending, of course, upon your being over 40 and your "replacement" not being) and/or an E.R.I.S.A. (dealing with your being denied federally protected and covered benefits) claim. Other than that, a white, under age 40 male has darn near ZERO protection under current employment law.  JMHO. BTW, I agree with Dusty in his saying they should not be able to stand in the way of your collecting unemployment benefits. Hang in there bro....and, FWIW, we are just beginning a $100 million S.A.P. conversion process down here in Wadsworth (STPNOC) and they are lookng to hire both full time regular and initiative contractor personnel to back fill the positions of those moving over into the project.

[xcaliber]

 Iy's a shame when you have to spend time CYA instead of doing the job. I'm going thru that now myself. Contact a labor attorney, they will tell you if you have a case. Good Luck.

[jmdaniel]

I agree with Jeff, Texas is a RTW state, as you know, and what is "right" these days often is not what is done. Personally, I think adding the stench of lawyers to the situation wouldn't be fun,  and would just delay the inevitable. When I was laid off from my last employer, in order to get the severance check, I had to sign a release of any claims under age discrimination. I guess that was a sign that I'm not a spring chicken anymore...

A couple of thoughts on this thread:

- who would have ever thought contact with the ACLU would be recommended on the TX VTX board? And that it wasn't Snake recommending it?
- the auto filters catch TarterSauce and AppleSauce, but not Charlton Heston? 

[Demon]

I hate dealing with foreigners!!!!   

[Gumbo]

Outsourcing is destroying the economy as we know it, unfortunately it a fact of life (greed at the top) . Now if you were not from this country I would go with ACLU, but if you are indeed American I can only say best of luck on your job hunt and I mean that.
Good luck 

[POGOGOLF]

Outsourcing is destroying the economy as we know it, unfortunately it a fact of life (greed at the top) . Now if you were not from this country I would go with ACLU, but if you are indeed American I can only say best of luck on your job hunt and I mean that.
Good luck 

My wish for noob as well!

[Lucky]

Have no better advice to share then what has already been said.  Just sitting here shaking my head seeing this as another sign of the downward spiral our country is in.  I also wish you success in your effort to right the wrongs inflicted upon you.

[sherri]

Sound like you might have something. Here is the name of a good attorney that specalizes in employment law. I know of at least one person who used her successfully. She is in Conroe, if you do not want to come all the way to Conroe she may be able to give you a referral in your area. A consultation cost nothing.

Jo Miller Law Office  

505 N Main St
Conroe, TX 77301
(936) 539-4400

I will give you one precation though taking a former employer to court may hurt future job opportunities (it is one thing they look for in background searches) which is ultimaly why I did nothing when I had a case, now I wish I would have though.


good luck in whatever you decide.

Sherri

[RocknRoll]

Just another example of the plot to keep the white man down.  We've been oppressed for over 500 years (1492 - you know - the Columbus thing)  We had to sail away on little wooden ships - away from our homeland leaving family, friends and property behind to find, start, establish, nurture and grow an entire new world!!!! Now it starts all over again.

NO JUSTICE - NO PEACE!

[j1mmyj4m]

I don't have anything to add, other than that I manually enter the filtered words.  That word was one that I figured didn't need to be policed.

I do agree that you should atleast talk to a lawyer if nothing else.  It couldn't hurt to atleast see if there is anything worthwhile.