lawyer minds... need help

[kyhunter89]

My place off employment has temporally laid me off numerous times over the last three years. I was laid off "permantly" three weeks ago. I started filing for school etc. I get a call thursday to come back. Only difference is, It's like I never worked there before. No benefits for first three months, Start out pay, not what I had worked my way up to.

Three weeks off... Whats to keep every company from laying employees off every certain amount off time to avoid pay and health benefits?

any help?

[Brian Lohnes]

Aaron may correct me here, but nothing is to stop them. If they terminated you, the company is essentially rehiring you and they are not obligated to give you anything you had before back.

I think the "permanent" layoff was a termination, so that's what they are doing. At my previous employer we had two routes at the end of the year. There were layoffs and there were guys who were "RIF'd"...RIF stands for "Reduction in Force" and those guys were terminated, but I told them that they could reapply in the Spring if they wanted to come back. The other guys, who were the good employees I wanted back in the Spring were still "on the books" so when time came for work to start back up, they came in and picked right up where they left off.

Again, Aaron may correct me here but that is my experience.

Brian

[TC]

If they are calling you back, they recognize your skills and want you back, I'd negotiate with them for better pay or at least what you where making before.......If not look for another job and quit playing their game.....

[kyhunter89]

Im one of very few they called back, They pretty much found out no one else could do my job...

yet they are screwing me... I've got closer jobs at better pay, I just kinda found myself a little home there,

[TC]

Im one of very few they called back, They pretty much found out no one else could do my job...

yet they are screwing me... I've got closer jobs at better pay, I just kinda found myself a little home there,

Just be honest with them, tell them you have other offers at better pay, tell them you'd love to come back, but it's be foolish to not go with the better paying job, when the security at this job is a bit iffy.........Let them know how you feel and how you look at it and tell them you'd love to come back at the salary that you were making when they let you go, if they don't go for it, tell them that's fine I'm sure you'll find someone to do that job as good as me..........Then just tell them thanks for the opportunity and to have a nice day............Then when they call you back, tell me you have a job offer for $5000 more than you were making when they let you go, tell them if they want to beat it, you might consider coming back..........Remember they called you.......

[SuperBuickGuy]

how much less (in a percentage) is your wages and benefits than what you made before?

[Dan Barlow]

It is a whole new world out thyere folks. It's back to he with the gold maks the rules. That would generally be the employe. Unless you were very good at putting money back for a rainy day. My opinion is the best time to look for a job is when you have one. So unless one of the other prospects happens soon, I"d take the old job. Job wise I'd never burn a bridge. Like telling them to take it and shove it.

[Beagle]

Aaron may correct me here, but nothing is to stop them. If they terminated you, the company is essentially rehiring you and they are not obligated to give you anything you had before back.

I think the "permanent" layoff was a termination, so that's what they are doing. At my previous employer we had two routes at the end of the year. There were layoffs and there were guys who were "RIF'd"...RIF stands for "Reduction in Force" and those guys were terminated, but I told them that they could reapply in the Spring if they wanted to come back. The other guys, who were the good employees I wanted back in the Spring were still "on the books" so when time came for work to start back up, they came in and picked right up where they left off.

Again, Aaron may correct me here but that is my experience.

Brian

RIF ... archaic term. We don't "Lay off" here, we "Right size" for the business. Catch up with the buzzword bullshit bingo! It's kinda stupid, why do we pay people to think up friendly terms to make you feel better about firing someone? We don't fire anyone either. We have employment separations. Seriously?

to the topic at hand though - you can always counter with a "I'll come back if you give me X" ... I don't think it could hurt? If they're pulling this crap just to screw you out of benefits, I'm not sure I'd want to stay. That's pretty scummy.

[DanStokes]

The gov still has the possibility of "RIF's". That's the term they use. We had one BIG RIF in my time there - they eliminated one entire pay category and everyone in that category went home. They were out for a few weeks and Congress added funding and the whole deal went back to like it was.

As far as your situation - yep, sounds like they're trying to screw you. If I followed your story right you have a job now. If the new folks are treating you well I'd stay where I am.

Best of luck
Dan

[yellomalibu]

Im one of very few they called back, They pretty much found out no one else could do my job...

yet they are screwing me... I've got closer jobs at better pay, I just kinda found myself a little home there,

Change is scary. I have stayed somewhere I wasn't happy because the fear of change was greater than my unhappiness with my situation. When I finally changed - what a burden was lifted. (yes, this can be used in multiple situations, not just jobs)

If I have found another job that's closer to my house AND pays better, I would think long and hard about going back to the place where I'm comfortable - but keeps laying me off, and now has cut my pay and benefits.

[kyhunter89]

being stubborn pays off. Im getting my old pay and more importantly the same health benefits I was which is the most important thing to me because of my hobbies and stuff I was born with.

[CDMBill]

All si well that ends well. All the better as Kentucky is generally a right to work state, but sometimes that works in the other direction as you've proven. Well done!

[70chevyC-10]

Good for you Ky -

[dieselgeek]

Whew! you're lucky to get your benefits back in the Right To Work state, Nebraska is the same. They can let you go at will, do mostly whatever they want.

I work at a place that was bought by East Coast investors 2 years ago, as a "middle manager" on the IT Infrastructure team. Over the last two years, I basically helped them make our data centers "portable" and watched as they laid off nearly 100% of our department over that timeframe. As of January 1st this year there were TWO of us left out of 185 people, 183 were let go over a two year period and their job functions moved to staff generally on the East coast.

They finally removed my "layer" as of February 15th (2 days from now) but unlike every other person in the department, they gave me about 60 days' notice and told me as long as I was professional, I could stay until the 15th. I told them I would look for other jobs, but at some point they changed their mind and offered me a job as an Engineer/Architect on our "storage" team. I took that job, it was a small pay cut but they offered me to split it down the middle in six months if I was still around - a fair deal I think. The economy is bad, and the glaring problem with my resume is "no college degree" (couldn't afford it!) even though I have 20 years IT Engineering experience. So I took the offer, and I'm staying around. I'm still looking at other opportunities, but this beats being unemployed in my industry. While i was picking up a book on Resume writing over the holidays, the guy who checked me out at the Barnes and Noble told me how he used to be a high dollar IT consultant (gulp). As of January 1st that bookstore closed down for good. The economy sucks !

[SuperBuickGuy]

being stubborn pays off. Im getting my old pay and more importantly the same health benefits I was which is the most important thing to me because of my hobbies and stuff I was born with.

good job on the negotiation - most don't remember that they are trading their expertise for money; if they don't want to afford your expertise, they can look elsewhere - but it does my heart good to know that some people hold out for their worth.