I have filed for arbitration of my final notice, which was for substandard performance and misconduct.
It cost $225 and you need the consumer filing form on the AAA website (American Arbitration Association) and a copy of the arbitration agreement you signed with USAA (available through the HR Service Center). If you win you can request your $225 back.
From what I have read, companies lose more often through Arbitration than in court. But companies prefer Arbitration, because their overall savings on legal costs from avoiding court offsets that.
14 replies (most recent on top)
Is there anyone on here who has used the arbitration process with success?
Any update on how arbitration worked out for you?
The destructive cult angle is a massive stretch. But yes, it did feel like a cult and I was there for a long time.
Looks like you were term for cause, "substandard performance and misconduct." I assume you were on a PIP? You don't have a leg to stand on in a Right to Work state. Good luck.
Are former USAA employees all eligible to file for arbitration including those laid off, or do the Ts and Cs of the severance agreement preclude arbitration?
Has anyone who has been laid off filed for arbitration?
Does USAA have to have a legitimate reason for laying one off? We were told nothing when given notice, then contradictory reasons in 1:1s. Seems to me that our manager told HR whatever they HR wanted to hear to get employees laid off then told employees something altogether different.
Whenever I serve on a jury, I take my responsibilies seriously. I pay attention and try my best to render a correct decision. I recall on one jury that I served, one lady wanted to give the person who filed the complaint money because her young daughter was involved (it was a car accident) and she had "gone to all the trouble of filing". Everyone else on the jury listened to reason; we spoke to the one "dissenter" and got her to vote with the rest of us. I knew that everyone on that jury truly wanted a fair decision. There were no "freebees" but honesty. And no one grumbled that we had to spend extra time with the one juror.
@qjo+1oAV1ara Thanks for the chat gpt answer.
If you are in a right to work state not a lot that can happen. They probably will settle for cost effective measures. Take what you can get.
You roll the dice with a jury who are already annoyed to be there. Also then your name will be attached to a court case. What other employer will want to hire you with background check?
I wonder if USAA could be defined as a destructive cult.
Members talk about drinking the KoolAid, being ostracized if they criticized the group, and seem to have such a strong group identity that the way the company is currently acting and treating them is sending many to the doctor's offices for medication. Many people are amazed at how a lot of employees are having such a hard time with the idea of just moving on. What is holding them back?
When I first joined, I immediately noticed how very odd the company was. They started all company meetings with a ritual of having members/employees attest to how great it was to be a part of USAA, either through membership or employment. They would also describe how generations of their families were involved. People seem almost fanatical as to how they provide service to their members, and it is a membership based upon a military identity (so an exclusive "club").
How culpable is a cult when it kicks its employees out? These people are having literal breakdowns, and many report a fear of leaving this group that has provided them with such a strong identity. Was it right for USAA to have done this?
It now seems incapacitating to many.
Jury trial in Texas is used to determine the guilt or innocence of a criminal defendant, or to adjudicate a civil dispute.
A civil dispute is a legal disagreement between two or more principle individuals or organizations. It is distinguished from a criminal dispute in that it does not involve statutory laws and does not require the involvement of the state as a principle party. A civil dispute usually involves tort, contract, or probate laws and is resolved by the court through the awarding of compensation, usually in the form of financial damages.
I’m curious what laws are actually being broken that would lead to a jury trial? I definitely get the bad HR practices, but is anything really illegal happening or individual’s legal rights being violated?
I want to wait for a jury case. I think the damages would be far higher and the jury would be more sympathetic to the average worker, especially if it is shown that there was a pattern to all of this insanity. Also, I think Bank employees may want to find out which organization made USAA offer a 1-year severance package because it seems to me that USAA is trying to undermine that intention. Finally, I think we all need to file a tort about inflicting emotional and psychological pain with these false PIPs, etc.
All we need to add is the CEO's raises and bonus money. If I was on the jury, I would smell a fish on that one!
Does arbitration work better in our favor if many of us file?
Any idea if there is a time limit we have to do this after being let go? I'm pending my unemployment appeal on 9/29 and if I don't get it, I might go this route. If you win, would you actually be getting your job back? Or is there something specific you are asking for?
Also the damages form court cases might be substantially higher when they lose than the typical cost of a loss in arbitration. Not sure if someone can confirm that, but it would seem to be the primary reason they would seek arbitration if it doesn’t help them to win more often.