Has anyone lawyered up after they received their severance ultimatum? If so, was it worth it?
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@2hj Also, keep in mind that employment lawyers typically charge 25-30% of whatever the settlement is on top of the original offer...
@a9 Many employment lawyers, especially in Canada, will not charge to consulting fee, nor take a fee unless the case is settled. That said, it can take up to three years if the case goes to trial. Depending on age, seniority, location, tenure, it is definitely worth consulting an employment lawyer. Keep in mind, OpenText has retained many/most employment lawyers in local jurisdictions to make it next to impossible to find a lawyer that is not in conflict of interest. ...
Dont bother unless its a race/age/gender issue. OT is very familiar with the process and rarely pays out anything
Lawyering up might help, but I tried that once when a past employer laid me off. The company simply stopped responding to my lawyer. It came to the point that the lawyer refunded my retainer. A large company against one employee who says they were unfairly let go--don't waste your money on a lawyer, spend it on getting help finding your next job.
@ax In the US the companies are not required to meet a standard or even match competitors regarding severance. In the past the most you can get in severance in US is 10 weeks plus unused FTO for OT.
OT will lay off people across the big three and provide docs as to avoid those types of situations. They don't mind getting rid of more people.
Plan to, if/when it happens. They're severance packages (are rumored) to be well below tech industry standards, and I fit into one of the 'big 3' categories.
That is unless my new boss continues to be a useless little micromanaging sh-----d. In which case I'll probably need to lawyer up to avoid spending some time locked up. Difficulty, he's remote, but it will still might be worth it.
Leaders do it regularly. Once you let HR know you are going the legal route, a whole action track starts. It takes a year or so usually. If you have reasons related to the big three (gender, race, age), company likely to settle. Had a peer who claimed age discrimination. They had an email whereby they were referenced related to their retirement age and company settled in 6 months.
@OP Have people been receiving severance ultimatums in the last couple of weeks?
Unless you got fired for unjust reasons, don't bother. The lawyer will cost more than any severance you might get.
This doesn't help but I would be thrilled to receive a severance. I fully expect them to find the smallest reason to use cause to fire me with no severance. I would lawyer up if I felt I was wrongfully terminated.