| Topic Name: |
Unfair lay off, what should I do? |
| Message Name: |
First Things First |
| Date Posted: |
10/30/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I am a consultant. Last week I had my review from the director/partner. He told me that he was laying me off and as the biggest reason he told me that the client I worked for had recurring complaints about me. I told him that this was not possible because everyone at the junior client level liked me, I got along well with them and I still communicate with them even though the project is finished and I am back to my office. I also had almost no interaction with the senior client since I did not attend any of the meetings. After the verbal review the HR manager who was participating the review gave me a copy of my written review by my job manager in the project. It was full of statements which were factually incorrect and biased.
I am very confident that I had good relationships with the client and represented my company as best as possible. My job manager did not have very "smooth" relationships with the client and I feel that he is trying to create a scapegoat by blaming everything on me.
I am confident that if the client were to be asked whether they had any complaints of me, my client would tell the partners that they were quite happy with me.
I have the written review in my hands and some of the claims, I feel, could be proven to be false, although I admit no one would be willing to ask these questions to the client not to hurt the reputation of my company or other things are a bit grey.
I am also a non-resident alien and a Muslim. I even feel somewhat discriminated. This would definitely put me in a difficult position, although I am from an Ivy leaguge with very good skills.
Both legally and otherwise, what would you advise me to do?
Please post here or e-mail me at riskconsultant@hushmail.com
|
| Message: |
If you feel that you have been unfairly treated, you should certainly seek the advice of a competent attorney in your local area. They will be able to suggest an appropriate course of action for you, and will most likely give you better advice than anyone on a message board.
That being said, I used to be an employment professional and dealt with a number of discrimination issues which were both real and imagined. Certain things I would suggest included not bringing your nationality, race or religion into the equation until a much later date. Doing so will result in many people disqualifying you immediately since you have just given them prejudicial knowledge of you. Some firms will automatically discard or heavily edit any resumes which contain information which could show nationality, race, religion or citizenship status.
If you know that the statements on your review were factually incorrect and are able to prove it, then you should meet with your director/partner once more to refute those statements which are incorrect. If you do not have conrete evidence to the contrary, you will be out of luck. Bear in mind that professional and personal relationships are very different animals, and the fact that "everyone at the junior level liked" you has nothing to do with how they evaluate your professional performance and abilities. Many people in the professional world work with people who they do not like but are very competent, as well as with people who they like very much but whose job performance is substandard.
When you do meet with your director/partner, make certain that before you make any allegations of discrimination or unfair treatment that you have credible evidence of this. If you do bring this up, your director/partner should immediately stop you and summon corporate counsel to the meeting. You should not attempt to contact the client directly since this may both aggravate them and violate your firm's policies regarding client contact.
|
|
