Thread regarding Qualcomm Inc. layoffs

I would tell them to s--- my cvnt.

Who revived this old thread? someone in a similar situation, from the comments seems like some one added their 2c few months ago and then some more piled on. wtf

Agree to voluntarily terminate employment but only if they provide a standard severance package offered during a layoff. Secure a lawyer before making the demand and make HR aware you have done so. If you are over 40 then play that card. If you are over 50 then play that card with conviction. If you are a female then play that card. They will either acquiesce or offer another deal that is still far better than the "pip or package" offer that is now on the table.

First, don't sign it. They're bluffing on that one. Signing it in no way will help you keep your job. That said: if your employer asks you to do work, you are required to do it. Pip is a very degrading way to do it, but you have to do it. If you can handle the pride, I suggest you stay and fight--and look for another job. That pip is your advance notice. Do the work. If they set you up to fail, document the tar out of it and insist on constant feedback (if the pip is to "help you succeed", which they no doubt are pretending it is, then they should have no problem with that, right?). If it clearly requires more than 40 hours a week to do, speak up. 40 hours is the law. Drop all your prior responsibilities and do only the pip (your manager will say this is in addition to your responsibilities. Get that in writing. You won't get it). When (not if) your manager gives you other stuff to do, say you're busy with the pip. Keep a personal copy of his response--which needs to be in writing--and of all emails. You showing you are trying to comply with the pip eliminates their attempt to fire you for cause, and that's all the more liability on them. You should still get severance (if not a passing pip), and you get all that extra time to land another job. Being employed while you interview is a BIG plus. "What's your reason for leaving?" "Qualcomm." No more explanation needed.

Best course of action is to walk away. Dont sign anything, they'll tie you up in legalese. Just quit and walk.

I know a sr engineer H1B who was pip'd so your logic is wrong.

It's not certain without these phony PIP and thousands of allowed H-1bs applications, Q can operate their questionable hiring/firing internal business.

The PIP's are BS! Talk to a Lawyer and show them the Agreement before you sign anything! You can get a low cost initial consultation by calling The Lawyers Referral Service of the American Bar Association of San Diego. There should be a class action lawsuit against Qualcomm for these phony PIP's which hid a large number of what should have been layoffs!

HR prefers to PIP employees out compared to laying them off. Remember that Qualcomm has been thriving on importing and abusing low-cost H1-B workers as replacement for their older age workers. If they "layoff" employees, they wouldn't legally be able to get new H1-B workers in the future because they wouldn't be able to make the case to the immigration authorities that they were short of US workers. they wouldn't have to pay them a severance package if the employee are PIPed out.

Answer to: Post ID: @EROjxvb-1jnt

I certainly agree that a company should have a mechanism to eliminate low performers.

However, this requires an objective method for measuring employees' performance. The objective performance measurement methods have intentionally been eliminated by Qualcomm HR to leave their and their managers' hands open for abuse.

An objective performance system would require proper goal setting. According to HR's own unspoken guidelines, goals should be “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound”. None of this is followed. Most of the time the entire goal-setting step is bypassed. HR even deprecated the questionnaire that was in the Focal system about your professional goals, ways to improve productivity, training needs, etc and reduced it to a blank sheet when they moved to MyTRAC to make this even more subjective. Your manager can even bypass and "veto" all the third-party feedbacks about you and you are not even allowed to see what the feedbacks were, not even anonymously.

HR has intentionally implemented this subjective evaluation system to give themselves and managers the power to do any abuse with complete impunity.

Why would you think that your managers perception of you is all that should matter the end of the day?

Taking constant abuse from a psychopathic manager and swallowing it is not "Emotional Intelligence", it is a psychological disorder, unless you are a type of person who does not care about maintaining a healthy and professional work environment and you are willing to do anything just to climb the corporate ladder.

1-kxe: PIPs at QCOM have recently been used to remove the most highly compensated engineers at a given level, so they can be replaced with cheaper H1Bs or foreign workers. They either PIP'ed, threatened to PIP, or RIF-ed some of the best talent in QCT last time around. Often these decisions were made at the VP or Sr. Dir. level, by people with no knowledge of the individual contributers' performance. I learned this from inside sources who were at meetings where managers and directors actually stood up for the people who were eventually terminated. Even though these decisions may have been motivated by financial reasons, the employees were still given horrible reviews, which were passed on to HR and QCOM legal dept. If these performance review summaries are provided to potential employers, this is not only defamation, but a violation of CA Labor Code.

1-foc: No, this is NOT a chance to make easy money. Yes, the courts are aware that companies use false PIPs as a means of firing employees. But as much as the courts despise this tactic, they despice plaintiffs' attorneys who file baseless suits to extract a settlement even more. The law in CA is that employers don't NEED to have any reason for firing you, and constructive termination under these conditions is very difficult to prove. Also, any attorney who promises to "take your case for free" will also sell you out for his cut of the routine $7,000 to $10,000 nuisance settlement after filing a complaint he probably ripped off from a Nolo Press book, and doing little or no other work. Play it smart. Collect all the documentation you are entitled to for free from QCOM. File for the right to sue letter from DFEH or EEOC--whichever is most applicable. (Doing this may make your employer liable for retaliation for exercising your rights under certain conditions.) PAY for a 1-2 hour consult from an expert--preferably one with experience defending companies as well as fighting for plaintiffs. You can probably do this for about $500. You will also get a better idea of whether it would be smarter to hire an attorney to negotiate the terms for you. This is much less expensive than litigation.

PIP are used to remove "bottom" 5% , bring new "blood" and raise the bar in the process. Other companies like MSFT, AMZN use same process

Lets not forget many PIPs are legitimate and pursued for due cause. A manager should have the option of getting rid of a bad employee. Do you really want to work for a company where no one can terminated. What type of behavior and work ethic will that create ? The post office or DMV both come to mind.

Sure there are abuses but no solution is universally fair or without flaws. 99% of the time though, if you do your work and are not anti-social you will not receive a PIP. Many engineers lack basic emotional intelligence and think they can act like social deviants since they have a graduate degree and a few patents or publications. Sorry but at the end of the day you are working with other people and if your boss thinks you are a liability you failed the only test that really matters.

Get a lawyer. This is your chance to make easy money. Sd judges are pissed at company for false firing.

Unfortunately, phony PIP are common practice. You are better off moving on to a better work environment.

Q will go out of business before unions are being authorized.

OP: you are being replaced by indians H-1bs

There is no survival in PIP. The whole point of PIP is to force you to leave (by assigning some impossible-to-do tasks in a short time and you get terminated without any package) OR otherwise you resign yourself and get the package. It is a mechanism to terminate employees at Q silently with fake excuses. No matter how hard you work and how qualified you are for the job, if your manager is an a$$hole or has a personal conflict with you, he can easily use this tool to (legally) terminate you.

Find a new job.

It's time for Qualcomm engineers to unionize. That is the only thing that will stop the abuses.

I think if you fail the PIP you don't GTFO package; that is why it is risky; Q sure knows how to suck the blood of its employees.

While in so called "PIP program", your manager and an HR representative will check your progress weekly and the can fire you anytime as soon as they decide you are not making progress to their "satisfaction". Therefore, there is no guarantee how long you will be employed while you are in PIP. There is a clause in the PIP document in which you sign and agree that you will not bring any legal claims against Qualcomm if you are fired. In fact this is the whole point of PIP for HR: to be able to fire you without running the risk of getting sued.

@ ggh: Just because HR says they are going to put you on a PIP for 3 months doesn't mean they have to employ you for 3 months. It just means that, at best, you will be employed as slave labor for the next 3 months--probably on a project you hate.

@ ggh: Just because they put you on a PIP for 3 months doesn't mean they can't terminate you sooner. It just means they plan on working you like a slave for the next 3 months. On something you will probably hate.

mij: I don't know where you went to law school, but you are wrong about the legality of wearing a concealed recording device to a meeting with HR. It's a violation of the penal code in California, as well as statutes in at least 11 other states. Recordings are not legally admissible unless they are performed by law enforcement following proper procedure. And even then, there are often levels of hearsay that must be overcome before it is admitted into evidence. You take it to a mediation or settlement negotiation and offer it up as "proof" and the opposing counsel will laugh his ass off. But -- Hey! -- feel free to give QCOM a legitimate reason to fire your ass for cause.

Documenting everything with pen and paper is fine: Who, what issue, when, where, outcome--that sort of thing. (Try to avoid He said/you said recounts; concentrate on what did your manager, lead, co-worker DOES or DOES NOT DO.) Don't use QCOM machines to take notes or send emails and documents to yourself. Everything you send on internal email at QCOM is subject to search and preservation on their servers. Much of it is also labeled "Confidential" although it doesn't technically qualify as confidential for evidentiary purposes. (The judges in the federal district court are aware that certain local businesses do this, and don't look favorably upon it.) You should be able to print out a copy for your own reference of all non-technical/non-proprietary communications without issues of confidentiality arising.... And don't steal the notebooks and pens from Office Supply. Buy a cheap notebook and supply of pens at Staples. The last thing you need if you are pushing for equitable relief is opposing counsel requesting the notebook under Best Evidence Rule and whining about "unclean hands" as he points out the Qualcomm logo on the front!

While the QCOM Health Ins. Plan states that coverage for terminated workers ends on the last day of the month of termination, it IS possible to work out health coverage in your severance. People have negotiated and received coverage up to six months subsequent to termination in the form of payment for COBRA or equivalent coverage. In addition, the FSAs and HRAs are usually handled by different providers under what is known as a "carve out." In this case, the provider is WageWorks. QCOM funds the FSA at the beginning of the year in the amount you choose. You pay it off from your paycheck in pre-tax dollars--which saves you money. You are entitled to the amount you have already contribued that has been taken from your paycheck. Since it's often a pain in the ass for the payroll contractor (ADP) to separate it out and figure the tax penalties, you can usually negotiate for the remainder in your FSA and get it.

As for QCOM's practice of making things so unpleasant that employees "resign" on their own, there is a legal term for this: it's called "constructive termination." It's not easy to prove because few employees take the time to document everything necessary and requesting the paper trail they are entitled to prior to resignation. Using constructive termination to violate WARN is itself a violation of the WARN Act. QCOM is long overdue for a class or collective action.

Do you say "Q is the most unethical org."?

Can you take PIP and use 3 months to find a new job? That is, dont work more, just use it as a tool for a paycheck while you find a new job.

Good info in this post, I will keep for my future refernce.

That being said, is the OP fake? There are no January reviews that I aware ( I guess some depts may, but have not heard of that)

This is an excerpt of the post by Gandhi: "Moreover, if they "layoff", they would have to pay a severance package to the employee which would cost them. They would also run the risk of the employee bringing a lawsuit against Qualcomm for wrongful termination. For this reason, they would try very hard to eliminate employees in other manners that could not be labeled as "layoff". They would put all their effort into creating a condition where the employee would "resign" on his own. Then they wouldn't have to pay the employee any severance pay and they would not face any legal risk.

One method to accomplish this is to "to work the employee out". They give the employee an assignment that is impossible to complete and make him work hard and fruitlessly until the he gets exhausted and leaves on his own. If this method doesn't work, then they "PIP him out". This is accomplished by artificially lowering his performance grade and putting him on PIP. Then they give him an assignment that is impossible to complete in the given time, or is outside of his area of specialization, or has dependency on another group to deliver. This gives HR the justification to terminate the employee and if it comes to a lawsuit, they would claim that they gave the employee a chance to improve, but that he did not "perform".

To PIP an employee out, they will first encourage him to either resign on his own or go on PIP. HR would threaten that if employee doesn’t agree to either one, they would terminate him for insubordination. If he resigns, HR will be happy because they wouldn’t have to pay him any severance payment, he could not make any legal claim against Q, would not be eligible for unemployment benefits, and his health insurance will cease at the end of the month. If the employee decides to go on PIP, he gives them a chance to fabricate more bogus evidence against him in the manner which I described. Remember that no one has survived PIP in the past. Then they will terminate the employee at the end of PIP and will use the fabricated evidence in case he brings a lawsuit. HR will even be happier in this case because they wouldn’t have to pay the employee any severance payment, he could not make any legal claims, would not be eligible for unemployment benefits, his health insurance will cease at the end of the month, and Qualcomm could extract another month of intense work from the doomed employee which thinks if he worked harder he would survive.

I strongly encourage you to document all your accomplishments, deliveries, and your working condition in fine details and be prepared to confront HR if they try to put you on an unjustified PIP. You may even want to wear a concealed recording device when talking with HR or your managers. Note that this is legally admissible because your purpose is to prove a wrongdoing. Make sure to keep a copy of your evidence in a safe place because once you start to dispute and resist, they will put you on an administrative leave and will cut off your access to your emails and records. If you prove that you have a case against them, they will offer you their standard package which is 2-month of pay. In return, they will ask you waive all your rights to sue them. The 2-month pay does not depend on the number of years of your service, however, it is negotiable based on how strong of a case you have compiled against them. The payment is proportionate to the degree of risk they perceive in getting involved in a lawsuit and worst of all, a class action one. After all, they know how many labor laws they have been violating in their sweatshop every day and how much is at stake when they are exposed."

Read the long post titled: "You have brought this upon yourselves" by M.Gandhi. The last half of the post tells you how the PIP works and how to deal with HR if they try to put you on a phony PIP. Here is the link to it:

https://www.thelayoff.com/qualcomm/post/4927920346759168

Why would they PIP you when they can just include you in next layoff?

Once you get promoted you automatically get your rating reduced to "consistently meets" (used to be a 3) because the argument is that you can't be exceeding at a brand new job. Basically it's buklshit and just a way to slow down promos and raises. If I were you I would stay and do the PIP. In the end they will give you a severance either way. Even if they say they won't. Now when I was managing I saw at least 5 pips a year in our department and every single person made it out but 1 and she surged the heck out of QC but had rock solid sexual harassment case.

As to suing for discriminations and hostile work environment or wrongful termination - good luck. It's is near impossible to prove unless you have been taking copious notes for years which show it to be persistent wth not action.

Also fighting your review - bad idea especially if it's a consistently meets. HR is not on your side and trust me your manager had already run everything by them before you got the pip to make sure they are onboard. You will lose that battle and your record will be marred.

I say do your best on the pip. If you try and they lay you off then get the severance. They never just fire you with out a package unless you ah e done something really agregious. Also there is no negotiating health care. They can't. You will get standard offer and COBRA. I talked to many many employment law attorneys and they all said the same thing. Good luck fighting QUALCOMM and they rarely budge in the severance for fairness sake.

Good luck. Look for another job now and be thankful and happy to GTFO. Everyone who leaves realizes quickly they are much happier once they no longer have to deal with QUALCOMM BS.

In the little box where they ask you to sign off on your review, did you protest it? If not, do so now, AND--this is important--get a copy of the sheet that compares the old evaluation standards with the new ones that was passed out to managers when the new evaluation scale implemented in 2014. It's important because the new scale allows managers to have "unfettered discretion" in assigning scores. This is a legal no-no. Follow QCOM's internal procedure for contesting your review, assuming they have one. If not, just briefly state why you disagree and send it to the appropriate HR person. No name calling, back-stabbing, etc. Send it by certified mail USPS.

Next make a formal request by certified mail for official copies of all reviews, all disciplinary reports by superiors, attendance, and salary records, and copies of any agreement you signed while at QCOM. If you are over age 40 you are entitled to statistical information regarding race/age/gender in similar positions and salary range--which they will most likely redact. You are entitled to these materials by law. Send this request by certified mail USPS as well. Keep copies of these communications with HR. The green postcard with certified mail is your proof that a QCOM representative received it. Next file an internal grievance with HR, and request a hearing. They can't charge you for this stuff.

This is the tough part: You want to file with an outside agency such as the EEOC or DFEH as soon as possible. If you truly believe you are being discriminated against based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, or age, file with the EEOC. But I'll tell you right now, there is law on point that says you can't win using EEOC law if you're white because you are discriminated against by a company because you are NOT an H1B. That's economic discrimination--which is sometimes permitted. If you believe that the primary reason for this action was to avoid paying the generous severances QCOM awarded in a RIF in the past, this is a potential WARN Act violation. In that case, file with the DFEH for a violation of Cal-WARN, etc. plus any other discrimination or violation of law or public policy. Both the EEOC and DFEH have websites that are easy to understand. Request that whichever organization you choose to file with crossfile with the other. If you have an attorney, just request the right to sue letter. If not, ask the EEOC DFEH if you have a case, and if so, would they pursue ADR--Alternative Dispute Resolution on your behalf.

NOW: Do you take the Severance or the PIP? You definitely don't want to take the PIP. Chances are in the time you waste busting your @$$ for QCOM for the next three months, you could have a job you like with a more financially stable company. If the severance is equal to at least 2 months pay with benefits, you won't recover anything under a WARN-Act violation, and most of it will go toward attorneys fees. Do the math. It will cost QCOM at least $50,000 to $75,000 to take this case to summary judgment if it goes to court. If you're getting about 2 months salary in severance, negotiate for continued health care for as long as you can under the Plan, any amount that currently remains in your FSA, and --this is important-- negotiate the wording of any letter(s) of reference and any that will be provided to future employers. This is particularly important with defense contractors as they do a background check.

That's my opinion.

GTFO package should be more than 4 weeks: there is something fishy here.

It will be hard for him to enjoy swimming in a pile of shit.

I think you should give a fight as they will be paying you do it....the way it worked for me previously is by question goals they set, bug your lead with all the question you have( he is getting paid for it)...force them to play there part. Your lead is responsible to consider your skill set, working hours and can not just throw unreasonable task to execute phone pip...try it and try to enjoy process...but at the end you may want to move on and use this as tactic to buy time and make there job difficult and demand that if they want to get rid of you then they should honestly pay Package and not try to save their ass was proving your competence, there is nothing to loose financially...My 2 cents

Nobody gets promoted on a Consistently Meets. You need a string of Often Exceeds or higher, time spent at previous title, and business justification for a promotion to get it. If you really did get promoted with a Consistently Meets, that's a failure of the system and they should roll you back a title or two until you are getting high ratings again. Regardless, with all the cost cutting going on you're screwed. Take your 4 weeks and get out with a clean record instead of being terminated.

Reviews are not done in January. However, assuming the post is otherwise correct, look into a title adjustment. Ask HR to return you to your previous title rather than put you on a PIP. Point out that since you were so recently doing well enough to earn the promotion, you may have been promoted too early.