Thread regarding ConocoPhillips layoffs

I was fired for cause. It was be-cause I would not go bar hopping with my boss in Vietnam.

Oh, it sounds like you have more insight into ConocoPhillips than someone earning a couple of thousand dollars of stock grants. I'm too smart to fall for that bait ... however I will keep sniping from the sidelines to let the folks that do earn a couple of thousand stock grants, or none at all, know what is happening. I am a bit of a rebel with a conscience motivated by interesting work and not money.

“Seriously, if you lost "SEVERAL hundred thousand dollars" with the vested plan of 3 years, you were making a tremendous salary. Evidently you don't know what it's like to only get a COUPLE of thousand from the stock grants that are paid over 3 years.”

If you earned “several” hundred thousand dollars over two years in stock options, I have some questions to ask. Is several 2, 3 or more hundred thousand dollars? Let’s take three as a safe number. Last year your options should have been very little so that now likely means that you received $300,000 in stock three years ago. This year does not count as you are no longer employed.

This gives us a few options.

• You were given a job that you could not perform.

• A person who placed you in a job that you were inept at did not perform well.

• You cannot negotiate.

• Although you may be a genius, you are not very smart.

At that level (and many levels below you) you will negotiate your pay. Immediately I think that they gave you a lot more than you wanted and jumped on board right away.

Unless you proved your worth (which is highly unlikely) I would have fired you as well.

If you negotiated your pay, why didn’t you make sure there were guarantees? If you were smart enough to get a position in which you get $300k bonus options per year, shouldn’t you be smart enough to ensure that some of it should be guaranteed? The super bowl was last week. Kids who still cannot read are smart enough to get an agent. Why didn’t you? More importantly why do you need one?

Unless you proved your worth (which is highly unlikely) I would have fired you as well.

If you really received that much money in options and the above two are not true….

I would guess that COP bought a company that you own for a limited salary and a lot of stock options.

Your firing was planned before the date you started. If this is the case every share holder would clap silently for business as usual.

If you are unable to protect yourself, you most definitely cannot protect the company.

Nope, you are right - it's been a while. You didn't know that your managers are clearing $800,000+ per year and getting extra bonuses for firing y'all while you debate about the merits of a VCIP payout? You think your managers have the same healthcare plan as you, or a traditional gold plated plan as they give you the inside scoop that the high deductible healthcare plan is the buz! You think they meet once a year in a mediocre restaurant for teambuilding or enjoy courtside rockets seats and seats two rows behind home base at the Astros - $500/head seats? Their managers meetings are at exclusive resorts oit if town and they get to bring the family.

according to Post ID: @FWFNiM9-1ska

"I suspect that the severance expense was funded from employees that were terminated for cause.

The savings plan vests after three years and she was cut on the three year mark. I lost several hundred thousand dollars of stock grants and bonus, I am sure she had more. I was cut days before my three years. Sheila Feldman's case looks suspiciously like mine. If you assume that the average years in is seven years with one weeks severance per year with ConocoPhillips I personally paid for twelve severance packages at my salary."

Seriously, if you lost "SEVERAL hundred thousdand dollars" with the vested plan of 3 years, you were making a tremendous salary. Evidently you don't know what it's like to only get a COUPLE of thousand from the stock grants that are paid over 3 years.

Yes, but how difficult is it to proove? Nobody is going to prosecute that as it discourages reporting of EEOC complaints.

A fictitious EEOC claim is a crime.

I don't like ConocoPhillips anyhow - first of all the majority of EEOC claims come from people that have been mistreated.

If you are hispanic/coloured/asian, and/or a female that is about to get canned do the following:

• choose a target.

• spend the bext few weeks in close proximity to them, preferably with some time alone.

• make something up, keep it short and write it down.

• make a claim, short and sweet by email to your supervisor.

• when HR intervene send the written statement, no more than half a page.

• when interviewed do not stray from the script and give no further details.

• it is unlikely that you will be terminated while the "investigation" is in process, don't worry there won't be an investigation.

• you will be terminated, however they will do it twelve months after the end if the investiagtion

• congratulations, you just bought yourself fifteen to eighteen months more in ConocoPhillips.

As I said, I don't like ConocoPhillips.

The majority in ConocoPhillips are not a protected class and have no legal protection under federal antidiscrimination laws. Indeed, they have no protection at all in Texas. Further, some protected classes - over 40 and national origin - are much weaker claims. When making an EEOC claim a retaliation claim should always be made too as the company will terminate you.

As a male who made a gender discrimination claim - she bragged to me and several coworkers about making a big sale for which she had to have phone sex with a client. A year prior she tried the same shit with another IOC client and the two companies settled in a packed hotel lobby at the c-level without an investigation by agreeing to purchase their entire offering for which she received a commision. She was "on her way to clean up (after sex)" weeks before making her sorry internal claim against me for sexual harassment, which obviously the company disiplined me for as the only obligation an employer has in this situation is to discipline the employees (both were disciplined) and no investigation is required. Might I add that the HR manager doing the disciplining also witnessed the incident along with a supervisor - both were female. I got nothing for the claim other than the satisfaction of giving them a charge and having to spend $s on an external investigation, however I did get a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the "group reduction in force of one" retaliation.

I just shared an example of how the Federal antidiscrimination laws are abused (to make sales) and the approprite way to deal with it. In This case the company had no choice but to discipline me as the first two incidents were not acted on by management or HR - they were happy to make sales in any way.

Clearly the majority of cases are real and are dealt with atrotiously so I don't want to detract from others cases in any way. Nobody makes a claim to make money as the payouts are so low - money only becomes a factor after the company retaliates as there is financial damage associated with a wrongful termination.

We really do need more employee employment rights in Texas - constructive dismissal should not be legal, and retaliation should not be the defacto solution for companies.

This situation only exists because as long as the person making a claim sticks to their story and refuses to drop the accusation one or both employees will be disciplined without an investigation as it is the cheapest way to deal with the situation. The result is that EEOC claims can be used to extort sales from clients or terminate a coworker.

Oops, I just told folks in ConocoPhillips how to play the EEOC laws ... but I don't like ConocoPhillips anyhow ;)

I had a lawyer lined up to pursue a discrimination claim in the event I was fired and management was well aware of the situation. In the end I was laid off and not fired. Lawsuits are not fun so in the end the layoff was the better of two evils. The supervisor involved in the discrimination continues to work for the company. The issue did include the EEOC process but no lawyer is interested until you are fired.

I was laid off because a COST team member wanted my job. They had first dibs I guess. Didn't matter that she had no qualifications.

One of my co-workers filed a harassment claim against her supervisor early last year. Our manager "didn't want to hear about it." She was fired because she "failed to do her job." Convenient. Of course, the harassing supervisor is still at COP. Good old boys club. Oh but don't worry, there is no retaliation at COP!

I suspect that the severance expense was funded from employees that were terminated for cause.

The savings plan vests after three years and she was cut on the three year mark. I lost several hundred thousand dollars of stock grants and bonus, I am sure she had more. I was cut days before my three years. Sheila Feldman's case looks suspiciously like mine. If you assume that the average years in is seven years with one weeks severance per year with ConocoPhillips I personally paid for twelve severance packages at my salary.

If you recall, last year the VP for HR (Sheila Feldman) left abruptly - she was appointed 05/2012 and left 04/2015. She started CB&I 11/2015.

Yes, folks don't talk about it but this is what happened. It is legal to rate someone as not performing and not give a reason. According to my employment attorney they can be terminated without paying bonus, stock grants or severance - this happened to me. There is nothing about me that is low performance and I have never had that ranking in my career before.

shame. Just thought if COP ever had a history of avoiding to pay severance and firing someone with cause instead of letting them go (at least for the low hanging fruits).

I know of no one, but several should have been that are still employed! I would have said still working if they were working!