This post is purely for my venting purposes..

So I have a close relative who had worked 30 yrs (this March) w/ the same company and was pretty high up on the chain of command (2nd from the top). Over the years, there had been different people who held the #1 position but they always got along w/ this relative of mine and actually thought he did a wonderful job. So much so that they would give him raises, bonuses, and big corner offices with giant windows and nice furniture.

Then comes the newest #1, who's substantially younger than some of the other #1ers. He immediately starts firing people who had been there for 20/30 yrs, some even longer. And since my relative is the #2, he would get my relative to fire them - people this relative had worked with for almost 30 yrs. Well, what choice did he have - you have to do your job.

Anyway, this #1 seemed like a nice enough fellow but still he was firing 'old timers' right and left. And after 3 years of working w/ this relative of mine, he finally kicked my relative to the curb on Monday. Okay, not to the curb.. they're letting him stay through the month. How kind.

What really irks me is that, yes they did give this relative some poor reviews over the past 3 years (mostly just so they can't be sued for this firing) but every time he got the reviews, he would change whatever it was they weren't happy with and yet somehow, the next year there were all new things to complain about.

My relative is 61 years old and was four years from retirement and his pension. Now all that is down the tube. Can you imagine working for 30 yrs for the same company and being loyal and them just SCREWING you over like that?!

I have a theory that this new boss was told to come in and do the 'out w/ the old, in with the new' routine. But how does that make sense? I mean, wouldn't someone who's been there for 30 years, know more about the industry than some punk who has 2 years experience? It reminds me of that ep in the 1st Season where Lex brings in that punk to take Perry's job (or something like that).

This company is one of the major TV networks and yes, some of them are not doing so well right now so it would make sense to have some layoffs..
But this was a firing, not a layoff. And this firing is not going to help the network do any better, it's just a local station for goodness sake - they don't produce the shows!!

I just really wanna hurt someone... this is NOT right! My relative will probably have to sell their house, one of their vehicles... things that they've worked for for their entire lives.

I'm just incredibly angry about all this. Your prayers would be much appreciated for my relative.

Twin, you know I will gladly help you bomb anything you need bombed.

Your family is in our prayers.

Perhaps your relative would like to apply for a job on my Republican children's puppet show?

Wouldn't your relative be vested in the pension system? Not that he could collect anything right away, and he probably couldn't get as much, but he ought to be able to collect something four years from now.

I agree, it is rotten, rotten, ROTTEN!

Has he talked to a lawyer who specializes in age discrimination cases? It sounds like there is a pattern here. I don't know how successful those have been in the courts lately, but it's worth a try. (And I'm not lawsuit crazy, but the people who fight back when they are cheated by an employer seem to come out OK. Even the ones who deserve to be fired. Speaking as someone who has been on both sides of such a dispute and did not fight enough.)

I hope things get better for your relative.

C'mon Twin, you're not really going to make him APPLY, are you? Doesn't he automatically get a position w/ his experience? Thanks for your prayers. I appreciate them so much!

Yes, he is but most of the money starts accumulating the last few years or so. He's only going to get about 1/4th of what he would have received had he stayed another 4 years.

There absolutely is a pattern but (not sure how it is in other states) in TX, if you have 2 poor reviews with documentation that you acknowledged the poor review, you can be fired and you CAN'T sue. They have documentation showing that you weren't doing a good job and you acknowledged it. If you refuse to sign it... well, I'm pretty sure they could fire you for that. Ya know, say that these reviews are part of your job description, yadda, yadda, yadda. So they've covered their butts as far as being able to sue. But their a big corp so it's not surprising that they'd go through all these little details to keep from being sued.

That totally sucks. I think the whole system needs to be changed, so that employers *cannot* offer pensions, health insurance, life insurance, etc -- but instead give you the cash amounts for you to control the accounts/insurance yourself. That way, when they lay you off, you're not losing everything you've paid into for years. Yeah, I know -- good luck with that. But the current system shouldn't be screwing people out of everything they've *promised* for decades.

PJ

If he can show a pattern of age discrimination than it doesn't matter about the reviews.