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1. 

   Ed, 28 Feb 2001 @ 12:59pm

   
   

   Lawsuits?

   Interesting with all of the stories about poorly handled layoffs that there haven't been more lawsuits. I remember one story, but it jumped to the conclusion that there was little or no recourse for the layoff victim.
   

   
   Now I'm not advocating frivolous lawsuits, but there's a reason why at so-called "old economy" companies it was a major undertaking to fire somebody -- you had to do everything correctly to protect the company against a lawsuit. With all of the sloppiness being reported, I'm surprised that more of these inexperienced dot-com managers aren't having their own rash actions coming back to haunt them in the courtroom.

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2. 

   audris, 28 Feb 2001 @ 2:16pm

   
   

   Re: Lawsuits?

   lawsuit for the way you were fired? for "emotional damage"? for being treated insensitively? that sounds pretty frivolous to me. wrong does not always equate with illegal. if she was laid off, she probably got some severance. otherwise, when you enter into an employment agreement with someone, the employer has the right to fire at will, and the employee has the right to leave whenever he/she wants. sure, the company or the manager was incredibly insensitive and unprofessional dealing with the situation in that manner, but that is not lawsuit worthy. people never suggest that companies embark on lawsuits against employees who leave without giving enough notice; or on employees that leave to work at competitive firms. the more individuals expect to be coddled and hide behind lawsuits, the less power we ultimately have.

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3. 

   Ed, 28 Feb 2001 @ 3:25pm

   
   

   Re: Lawsuits?

   I said I wasn't advocating frivolous lawsuits. There are some circumstances when people may have grounds: if the employer falsifies the reason for termination (using poor performance as an excuse when you can prove otherwise), targeting older workers more heavily for layoffs, illegal discrimination on the basis of race/sex/etc., targeting people for layoffs just before they are eligible to collect a bonus, retaliation for whistle-blowing, and so on.

   
   My point is that if inexperienced managers are laying people off without taking steps to insure that the layoffs are handled carefully and legally, they may be opening themselves up to lawsuits that just might have some reasonable basis. Giving notice via email or SMS, although rude, is certainly not cause for a lawsuit, but if it is any indication of the level of care exercised by the company's management, they may have screwed up in more substantive ways.

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