I opened up an age discrimination allegation against my skip. Do I have any rights if I get terminated or laid off before the case concludes?
9 replies (most recent on top)
If you don’t have one already, please contact an attorney who specializes in employment law. Immediately. If you don’t have contacts in the legal field or a SOLID referral, you can look up the “Super Lawyers” in your area. Just google it. I believe it’s just Martindale now (it used to be Martindale-Hubbard) which is another great resource. It’s a national directory of lawyers where they are both peer reviewed and client reviewed. Phenomenal resource.
Lastly, PACER is a public database of court cases. It should be free (it didn’t used to be). You just have to create a user ID, etc. There are all sorts of ways to filter out employment law cases in your nearest Federal or State court. Once you find a case, filter for the docket, then I always pick the initial complaint then scroll down to see how it was decided. By and large, these cases are settled and never go to trial.
I feel your pain. Ageism is illegal yet is so widely prevalent across every industry. The only upside (for me) is enough of us have had enough and are taking advantage of the flexibility (part time, online, hybrid) so, so many law schools now offer. There are A LOT of age 50+ law students. If all goes well, I will join their ranks in the fall.
ALSO - if you can’t afford a lawyer, most law schools offer free services through their 3L programs. You’ll work with a third year law student who is overseen by an attorney. The bigger the school, the more specialized these 3Ls and their attorney-advisors become.
I wish you the very best. Please always remember, HR is NOT your friend. Their allegiance is to their employer and they are paid to keep their employer out of trouble. DO NOT EVER TRUST ANYONE EMPLOYED BY YOUR FIRM. EVER. I learned this the hard way.
first and foremost -- HR is not on your side, ever. Their first duty is to the company and they are there to protect them, not you. When they help you, it's to make sure something doesn't happen to the company. Never trust HR to do the right thing for you, they are doing what's good for WF 100% of the time.
As someone tangentially involved in the allegations process your claim will go the same way as the others. It will be unsubstantiated and tucked away. WF compared to its competitors has an abysmal substantiation rate. The investigation process is a joke.
great job, now everyone involved has a target. You could have asked for help, support or just left but now you engaged in the company protection machine in a year that will see significant reductions so now you will all go down. You 100% manager 50%.
There's a target on your back. You could have consulted with an employment attorney BEFORE going to mgmt or hr. You will be retaliated against, so make sure you have the paper trail to prove it. You will not be eligible to work for this bank again - which in a lot of ways is good cause they are lackluster and micromanage (and their brand died, the scandals, the soul su-king vampires, the previous fraudulent accounts, the current continued cross selling pressures). Learn from the experience. Save as much as you can. Look at temp roles or contract roles, staffing agencies. Work your way back up. It's not the end - this will teach you a lot of valuable life skills on standing up for yourself. Just make sure you have valid evidence to prove your case. Take photos, write things down. Know that you're not alone and don't fall for gaslighting.
You filed a discrimination claim to try to avoid a layoff? That’s kind of low.
The problem is that no matter what, you have been red flagged now with the bank and they are going to do what it takes to get rid of you.
Far too vague a scenario to give an answer totally applicable to you but you have two different scenarios going on. Your discrimination case is one, and if it goes in your favor you will be remunerated based on its facts.
If you’re terminated in the mean time there will be documentation to show its validity.
If you’re laid off with severance its validity willl be proven by the others laid off with you.
Of course none of this can stop a lawyer from arguing the validity is void and it is just retaliation.
I’m guessing you are in contact with a lawyer? If not get in touch with an employment attorney and don’t sign anything until you discuss with your attorney.
Grab whatever evidence you need before you are locked out.