ConocoPhillips retaliates against employees who give their employer an EEOC charge for sexual harassment
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If you think you want to sue, make sure you have a rock solid case AND do not sign the release. Use the 60-days to do your homework and good legal advice. Also be sure that your case is rock solid enough to deliver a settlement that is well above what your severance payment is...remember your attorney will take typically 40% and Uncle Sam will want his share too. And you would have to be in a position to not need that money for quite some time. You are looking at years usually before you would see anything from a lawsuit. 95% of the time you are better off signing the release and moving on. And if you've signed your release already, just forget it. The only attorney that you'd find to take your case at that point is a bottom feeding loser. COP has never paid more than the amount of the original severance when a release has been signed and remember, your attorney will still get their share (40%). Normally in any kind of legal matter, the attorneys are the only ones who win.
If the piece of paper didn't hold up in court, then why do they make you sign it?
ConocoPhillips will get you out-one way or another. You have already been marked. HR, Ethics, company lawyers and company managers have only one thing in mind, protect COP and prevent it from getting out at all cost. This means lying too. You threaten this goal as soon as you complain to the company. No one inside ConocoPhillips will protect you. Employees-HR, Ethics, company lawyers and company managers-are worried about their own job and getting kudos for getting rid of the problem, further salvaging their own jobs. You have the maximum leverage reporting your experience to an external party, EEOC, lawyer.....
The claim stands if you recorded it using the app on your iPhone. Want to trap a lying boss - iPhone ... it is legal to record conversations and phone calls in Texas without the other party knowing.
@IkGd71-hpn do you know if a claim holds up if verbal things were said that we're inappropriate and there were no witnesses?
I have heard that that thing you sign saying you won't sue the company will not hold up in court. It is a bribe or you are under stress when signing...
This crap goes in because people are too scared to turn it in. People know they will be a target if they submit a report, so they keep silent.....which enables the unethical to continue harassment, or continue creating a hostile environment.
The term is "legal guidance". ConocoPhillips does not have respect for the labor laws or the labor. HR receives marching orders via the lawyers and "legal guidance" via the lawyers.
The will not sue letter does not supersede federal labor laws. And yes ConocoPhillips does in fact retaliate against employees involved in EEOC complaints. Unfortunately a layoff is not the same as a firing so the lawyers are not quite as excited about the layoff. Oddly enough the company did in fact investigate thoroughly an EEOC complaint and the end result the only employee involved in the complaint not involved in the layoffs is the supervisor involved in the complaint.
For future reference, do not hesitate to file the EEOC complaint as the end result is the same but with an 18 month delay due to the EEOC complaint. The supervisor will be protected by the company. Unless the issue is embarrassing to the company the company will not address the issue.
It is illegal to retaliate, where is it in ConocoPhillips code of conduct okay to intentionally break the law?
If you have a solid case against them, and get laid off, file a report before you sign the document for severance. When you sign that document you are saying you won't sue them.
Sexual harassment, and people creating a hostile environment, goes in a lot but everyone is afraid to speak up. Once a person speaks up about almost anything, they have a bulls-eye in them.
The company is so fake and has double-standards. They make everyone take online courses regarding harassment, but it is not enforced...other than getting rid of the person who submitted a report or complained about something...even if it was ligit.
During this stressful time, with so much talk of lay offs, people are even more afraid to turn in reports or complain about anything even if it is justified.
They retaliate for most HR reports.