Layoffs happen and it's unfortunate but Chesapeake has been very petty and shady about how they've conducted this round of layoffs. The employees in the last few rounds of layoffs were treated decently with somewhat generous severance packages. Chesapeake has since changed much of this and now long term employees are cast aside with little to no appreciation for how long they've been a part of the company. A whole department was outsourced and all employees were FORCED to fight each other over the new positions regardless of how they felt about staying on with the new company, ricoh. Most of these employees have been with the company 5-10+ years and yet the severance that only a few will receive is the exact same as any employee laid off after only 90 days of employment. All employees that actually received job offers from the new company that they were forced to apply with will receive NO severance at all. Chesapeake has also decided to take back any unvested stock from employees even though they previously fully vested the stock for people who were let go. Employees who will be laid off at the end of the month are being forced to stay on and train their replacements within the new company just like Disney was recently doing as highlighted in national news. If all of this wasn't already a huge slap in the face, a few hours after employees were first notified of this they were treated to a company wide streaming town hall meeting with the ceo, Doug Lawler. I did not watch this myself but was told that he was assuring everyone that there would be no layoffs. This was jaw dropping after being told about our pending layoffs that will be final at the end of August. I think the company might want to remove INTEGRITY from the many core value posters all around the company. Doug Lawler and upper management should be ashamed at their treatment of long term employees. If you're looking for a good company to work for or invest in, I think Chesapeake should be at the bottom of your list.
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9/29/2016 is coming up fast...any news if history will repeat itself? It's been very quiet as the fiscal year end draws near.
v v v absolutely. If everyone would focus on finding solutions instead of talking trash we would not be in this situation. How much time and energy do a lot of you waste on negative comments. Be part of the solution or just leave.
Why do you dipshits keep blaming AKM and his people. Stop blaming the past and start focusing on fixing the issues.
We can all thank AKM and his merry band of theives for the many lawsuits and overall corporate mess they left behind as they exited CHK with millions! It will takes decades to undue their greed and reckless business tactics.
Lets see who will get the lawsuit for this 5.6 Pawnee earthquake
SNOOZERVILLE......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You can look at just about any firm that is ready to file against CHK. There is something in the water and it's not frac juice.
They aren't necessarily spending big bucks on the lawyers just yet, they're a contingency. If a lawsuit gets filed they'll find the resources for an overwhelming defense. That's because this is really not about right or wrong, it's about power and management's desire to retain it. They don't care about being fair to employee's or protecting the stockholders value. They just want to stay in power and not be challenged. Threaten them with a lawsuit and they'll prioritize available cash to protect their positions. So, unless you have an iron-clad case and a darn good law firm that is willing to represent you on a contingency or pro bono basis, your best option will be to just move on. I'm not saying it's right, just saying that's the way it is.
YAWN..... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"Management has many tools to enforce their will and high paid attorneys and a legal/political system that will back them up."
Sounds like they are not sure on which way the want to swing it. They can't afford keeping everyone employed so the next logical move would be retaining the services of high paid attorneys. High paid attorneys to fire mid level corporate citizens the correct way.
Ho hum. This is boring as hell.
"Never forget that as an employee, you have rights. If they try to intimidate you stay professional."
This is correct . Protect yourself and document anything that doesn't seem correct . If one gets severance and another doesn't , document it !
Then go to your own employment attorney and see exactly what your rights are !
Unfortunately I believe the last poster is correct. Management has many tools to enforce their will and high paid attorneys and a legal/political system that will back them up. Not saying it's right, I don't think it is. But it's an uphill fight and like it or not they hold the legal high ground.
Here's some facts. Oklahoma is an "at will" state. We as employees have very little rights when a company decides they want to end your employment. Severance is NOT a guarantee from any company. Most corporations don't offer it or if they do its very little. Post the AKM days - CHK stays very tight to all things legal and use a number of outside attorneys. Don't waste your money trying to fight something that I'm sure has been checked and rechecked by numerous attorneys. Take the severance or the new job - be glad you get one or the other - and move on!
As long as you notify them that you want your severance regardless of any job offer, you should be good to go. Never forget that as an employee, you have rights. If they try to intimidate you stay professional. Recently CHK operates with an absence of professionalism as far as lay offs go. If it comes down to it I will initiate class action litigation. You can not forget the fact that CHK cannot go forward without it's employees. We just have to stick together and stay strong as a reminder to them that we are not expendable. If it gets to a point where they are offering me severance it will not be a one sided conversation, especially with my years of service. I guess it is like negotiated salary in an interview; they have their number and you have yours now negotiate to a point in the middle. I suggest all of you make a list of what you would require in a severance package.
Get This super prick stockholder, since your Corporate Raider buddy took over this company and forced Doug the D--k s---er Lawler to the helm, the company has lost more than 60% of it's stock value. Now go s--- a duck or d--k, I don't care which.
Entire field assets have been divested in chk with the exact same terms for severance for the employees. None have whined like this group! Ugh!
Get this. You're valued IF you add value to the shareholders/corporation. As a stockholder I'm glad to see chk shed the unnessary and move this company to hopefully a profit one day.
I agree wholeheartedly. Well stated and to the point. Anyone who believes they are valued by this company is fooling themselves. I wish those let go only the best as they move on from this dismal excuse of a company. Blackmail by Severance is evil.
If that's what you think the imaging department does, then you are a dumb--s. What a prick.
Blah blah blah. All this whining from people "sacrificing their lives for chk " by scanning and making copies. OMG. It's business people. That place was a throwback to 1980 and NO other Fortune 500 company does what that dinosaur of a department was doing. It's been outsourced and your party is over. Grow up and move on!
I'd say that qualifies as forced. CHK's never been a class act. My sympathies to all.
It was the Imaging Center. And true, they coluldn't "force" them to apply to the other jobs, but if they didn't apply they would get no severance. If they applied and got a bullshit offer (which many people did, it's significantly lower pay) and turned it down, they would get no severance. The only way to get severance was to apply and for them to reject you, which only happened to six people (many of whom were with the company for a decade and deserved far more than they got.) So no, not technically "forced", but they were never paid as well as the rest of the company and few of them have the resources to just turn down the lower paying job without severence to keep them going while job hunting.
Who cares? It's Friday!
Any word on core mineral buying the Devonian
Wow... thats some borderline evil sh--. Sorry to hear.
What department was let go?
They force you to comply by severance package, if you don't do as they ask you will not receive the package
How do you "force" someone to apply for a job? If you want to continue to work for the new company, thats a new job. Certainly no one was forced into it. I'm sure you can walk away if you want.