Steve Mensing, Editor
Getting fired or being forced to resign is a painful experience for most. It is something that happens all-too-often in recent years across the United States and here in Salisbury. I wrote this ”Termination Survival Manual” in the hopes that your way toward the unemployment door and through it will be less a rude jolt and you are able to obtain your full legal rights and benefits owed you should a wrongful termination befall you. From what a number of former and present Salisbury City employees described in recent months, some “resignations” and firings appeared quite unkosher. From various reports some”partings of the way” were performed in a way allegedly to save the city the maximum amount of money and left a number of employees without a required parachute.
We frown upon wrongful terminations and failing to give a former employee their legally required money. We strongly subscribe to the ethical maxim: “Do the Right Thing”. It doesn’t send attorneys galloping at you from all directions or drain your employers coffers for unnecessary legal expenses and hefty settlement payoffs. You feel clean, whole, and aboveboard when you walk home at night. Folks are less likely to call you a “cheese ball” behind your back.
Now for an unpleasant fact of life: nobody is owed a job whether its a municipal or a corporate employee. The City of Salisbury has every right to terminate an employee especially if their budget is being poleaxed by Fibrant. Here at the Rowan Free Press we forsaw the future consequences of the Fibrant debacle–that magic moment when the chickens come home to roost. In fact we noted this possibility since our first articles about Fibrant and even before that in our pro consumer project: Anti-Fibrant.com. Inevitable is a fitting word. So here we are.
The City of Salisbury is required by the state of North Carolina to do terminations legally just like other municipal governments across our state. Present and former employees are protected by our laws. Employee paperwork and write ups are not to be “acts of creativity” spawned by the dire need to save money. An employee’s reputation and character are never to be falsely sullied in order to cut them out of rightful unemployment, severance, healthcare, and owed back pay. We frown mightily on such employer behavior and so do the overseers of state employment practices. Its one thing to bend the truth about a fiber optic network’s “victories in the North”, but it’s something else when an employee gets paraded before the public as a liar. We have major challenges with that and so does one of this town’s leading attorneys.
Universal warning signs of wrongful employment termination:
•Getting fantasy write ups.
•Being demoted to force you to resign.
•Having your free speech rights violated by being told you can’t criticize a local government’s projects or contract hires.
•Having mysterious never before seen documents inserted in your work record.
Its likely you have been ensnared in a pattern of wrongful termination and best get an attorney promptly who will protect your employment rights. Know too if you are already terminated and your character and good reputation were impugned during your firing process this should be brought up with your attorney. It may spell a handsome settlement. If you are undergoing great stress and emotional pain let your attorney know. He may suggest promptly visiting a psychiatrist or psychologist for proper diagnosis and therapy. Further it is wise to network with other employees who were wrongly terminated. Your attorney will better be able to build a case around a pattern of wrongful termination and he or she will raise the probability of your court victory or gaining a settlement from your former employers.
Some helpful tips:
•Always make copies of your employee records which your employers must legally provide you upon request.
•Know you have guaranteed rights as a government employee to free speech within reason. You can’t cuss out your employer or call other employees names, however you can reasonably criticize your government employer and its projects when you are off duty. This same privilege is not available to employees in the private sector. If a supervisor tells you otherwise, remind him or her of your rights. Be polite, but firm. Get their warnings in writing if possible. Keep a record of verbal or written exchanges with your supervisor or HR employee.
•If you are being pushed to subscribe to a municipal utility during your employment you have the right to assertively say no. If your job is threatened in any way because you declined, record this.
•If you are demoted to a much lower position within your department or were forced to take a psych evaluation these are common signs an employer is angling to force a resignation. Do not resign. It is far better to be wrongfully terminated. Seek legal counsel immediately.
•If you are warned that you can not employ a certain attorney by your employer–this is nonsense. Let your attorney know immediately.
This “Termination Survival Manual for City of Salisbury Employees” can never be a stand in for expert legal counsel. You need a qualified attorney in wrongful termination proceedings.
Good luck in obtaining your just due.
Some further readings:
http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1438&context=lsfp
http://pathlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Whitt_v_Harris_Teeter_and_Schultz.pdf
http://flsa.blogspot.com/2008/05/constructive-discharge-isnt-good-thing.html
