Hi All, i was a full time ford employee. I was supposed to be put on a new project this week after successfully completing my project. I got a call from my manager and his manager and got laid off without any notice. They took away my acces right away didnt even give time to say goodbye to my corworkers after 5 years of working for them.. my question is was this completely legal for them to do is there anything I can do in this instance? My manager just switched to a different company and my new manager made this decision on his first week..
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As a former employee that was pushed HARD to retire in 2018, you all should have a backup plan ready to go. At least I got my 30 years in which is probably a rarity these days. Good luck. It used to be a good place to work....
Happens all the time, especially with contract. Notice end of day Friday, or Saturday morning.
There have been rare exceptions in my career, much notice provided. I remember those managers. Good effing people. They didn't have to do what they did for people.
True, Michigan is an at-will state, however Ford as an over 20 yr history of age discrimination in terminations. They lost big when Jacques the Kn--e did it and tried to hide it via performance reviews, and they lost after SRD but not as badly since they tied the severance package to giving up right to sue. I expect that the quarterly PR's to quickly build up "a history" of poor performance to push pension eligible out the door will be seen for what it is just like Jacques got called out on.
Suck it up. Life goes on. Your old manager knew what was up and took off so as not to have to deal with it. The new guy just carried through on what was already in process. It's just business. No recourse. Move along.
Sorry this happened to you but did you not know you were an at-will employee and as such, Ford can terminate you for any reason at any time as long as it is not discrimination or retaliation?
By the way, we should remember that when an employer skips giving employees two weeks notice for anything other than a 'fired with cause' situation that it's only right & fair to not give them notice in advance either.
Every case is different for sure, and at a mere five years in I doubt you'd have much traction for any kind of lawsuit, even if you were near or of retirement age already. The folks that may have a case are those still on the pension plan (so at least 18 yrs seniority) and close to various milestones/retirement eligibility. However, to pursue a case you'd need to be able to get by for half a decade w/out work and willing/able to keep a lawyer on the case until it resolved.
Basically, unless you're 50+ and on the pension plan all you can do realistically is gripe about being cut without reasonable notice and then enjoy watching Ford collapse from the outside rather than the inside.
You are an “At Will” employee. You should just sign the waiver and get another job and move on. Suing an employer for discrimination is very difficult and expensive and it sounds like you have no case.
Thanks for sharing that! Yes I was also in a non-union space and under 40. So does that mean we are basically to just accept what happened and move on? Also what are my options other than signing the waiver and taking the severance?
I'm sorry this happened to you.
I worked in a non-union industry. The group layoff I was part of about 2 weeks ago was done in a similar manner. (Coincidentally, my small group had just been put on a "new project" too!)
A group call was held with everyone being told of the layoffs. Then, the next day, HR called those of us individually who were having our last day that morning. Access was then cut off. Luckily, I got paid for the remainder of the day & the week. Severance info etc was sent to my personal email while I was on the call.
Are you in a union? Because if you are, I recommend you reach out to a Union rep or look at your union agreement IF YOU CAN. I have no idea how a bargaining agreement would impact your job security.
I am pretty sure that your age impacts the length of time you have to look at a severance package & decide whether or not you want to take it. I believe that if you are 40 or older, you get more time.... this is probably to help the company protect themselves against age discrimination allegations.