本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛网友rain07求助：这个termination letter 该不该签，是否值得走法律途径。
“我在之前的公司从事中级会计工作近2年。自1年后直接manager被换掉后（原manager是招聘我的manager),工作上时常被给予不公平待遇，人际关系上也受到孤立，（新manager 招了一些自己人），身为团队中唯一的中国人常感到抑郁和无奈。可能也有一些自己性格上的原因。几天前由于再次被给予不应当在自己工作职责范围内的工作，和同事argue起来，最后虽然还是接受了工作，可没有控制住情绪，说“I will do it"的时候生气的拍了自己的桌子。之后虽然完成了工作但还是被manager借机以aggresiveness 的名义开掉了。在这之前已经在积极争取换工作了，刚顺利的进行了2个面试，正在等待进一步消息，本以为应该可以顺利脱离苦海，没想到这关键时候出了这档事。确实很懊悔，事后回想可能也是当时感觉到已其他选择后豁出去的心态，加之长期的忍耐所以才有此举。目前被给予 ROE-K(record of employment-other reason),不是dismissal。并给了6周的salary作为seperation support.要我在接下来的7天内接受。但给我的termination letter 中明确提出了是由于我的aggressiveness造成的，可并没有说明整件事的来龙去脉，在事件处理过程中也更没有给我申辩的机会。由于此前从没遭遇过类似情形，特此前来咨询不知这样的结果是否会影响将来的职业发展。或有任何其他负面影响。其实我自己感觉还是挺憋屈的。我现在在是接受公司的6周薪水补偿，同时意味着放弃所有自己的追述权呢；还是选择寻求法律途径求得对自己的公正待遇之间挣扎。
今天在此发帖求助，一来是希望求得任何相关经验或意见以及相关法律或劳工保护的服务机构的信息（例如ROE-K是否能申请到EI,是否有免费的劳工或法律服务机构可以寻求帮助等任何资讯和该接受这个termination letter还是找找法律讨个公平）。二来希望大家以我的例子为前车之鉴。谢谢大家！”
网友GoingConcern回复：Practically, there is not much to gain from a legal action in your case, even though I do think the nature of the matter should give you better justice. At this point, what I can think of are:
Option 1: Resignation
Can you negotiate with the company like this: You will resign from the job, with no serverance pay. Take your vacation days left, and use the "two week notice rule" if possible. On your HR file, it will be described as "resignation". Even if they put it as "termination with other reasons", it will not have much negative impact on your future career. The condition of leaving without serverence is that a. the company agrees to accept your resignation and b.withdraw that statement of "aggressiveness" from your HR file and c. agree to remain neutral in future reference. Then it will be worth losing 6 weeks' pay. The Privacy Act has related clause in protecting privacy in this respect . A properly trained HR professional should be well aware of their duty to protect ex-employees' personal information including incidents like this.
Option 2: Personal Statement
If the employer refuse to accept option 1, it will not be too big a deal either. Accept the severance package and sign the letter, take a good vacation and bounce back! !!! BUT!!! you have a right to file a statement on your account, objectively describing the whole incident from your perspective, and ask HR to sign it to acknowledge that they have reveiwed and confirmed that this is what actually happened. Even if they would not sign to agree, have them sign confirming this has been discussed by both parties. Ask this statement to be filed permanently in your HR file and keep the orginal HR signed copy for yourself.
Option 3: Legal Action
If the employer refuse your reasonable offer in option 1 and 2, indicate that you will definitely seek legal action. If it is big company, this a big trouble to them and they would normally seek to resolve with you in private if your lawyer represent you. If it is a small company, it is hard to say. Anyway, if they do file financial statement, matters like these needs to be disclosed as possible financial obgliation in notes to financial statement. I have seen in the past, in most cases, such suites are filed in the name of "descrimination" and in the market, lawyers would be very willing to represent you if they know the company has big bucks. The catch is: you do need to have proper evidence. Your lawyer should be able to guide you further.
For your consideration. Option 3 should be a last resort and it will be a lose-lose situation, not to mention that it may last a long time. If your priority is to get on with your life and have a new job soon, you should be cautious and try to make peace with the company. After all, it is very obvious that they should know they have treated you unfairly. Who in this world does not have an emotional moment? If you have not laid any hands on your colleagues but just patted on your own desk, it is not fair to dismiss you on this stand-alone detail or equating this as "agressiveness". Their lack of proper procedues of warning in writing is, by itself, a loophole your lawyer could very well utilize should you choose to go to court.
Take care and thansk for sharing this with all of us. If you need any help with drafting a personal statement, I could offer some help, unless you have a lawyer or legal service who will be able to offer better and professional help.
GC更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
“我在之前的公司从事中级会计工作近2年。自1年后直接manager被换掉后（原manager是招聘我的manager),工作上时常被给予不公平待遇，人际关系上也受到孤立，（新manager 招了一些自己人），身为团队中唯一的中国人常感到抑郁和无奈。可能也有一些自己性格上的原因。几天前由于再次被给予不应当在自己工作职责范围内的工作，和同事argue起来，最后虽然还是接受了工作，可没有控制住情绪，说“I will do it"的时候生气的拍了自己的桌子。之后虽然完成了工作但还是被manager借机以aggresiveness 的名义开掉了。在这之前已经在积极争取换工作了，刚顺利的进行了2个面试，正在等待进一步消息，本以为应该可以顺利脱离苦海，没想到这关键时候出了这档事。确实很懊悔，事后回想可能也是当时感觉到已其他选择后豁出去的心态，加之长期的忍耐所以才有此举。目前被给予 ROE-K(record of employment-other reason),不是dismissal。并给了6周的salary作为seperation support.要我在接下来的7天内接受。但给我的termination letter 中明确提出了是由于我的aggressiveness造成的，可并没有说明整件事的来龙去脉，在事件处理过程中也更没有给我申辩的机会。由于此前从没遭遇过类似情形，特此前来咨询不知这样的结果是否会影响将来的职业发展。或有任何其他负面影响。其实我自己感觉还是挺憋屈的。我现在在是接受公司的6周薪水补偿，同时意味着放弃所有自己的追述权呢；还是选择寻求法律途径求得对自己的公正待遇之间挣扎。
今天在此发帖求助，一来是希望求得任何相关经验或意见以及相关法律或劳工保护的服务机构的信息（例如ROE-K是否能申请到EI,是否有免费的劳工或法律服务机构可以寻求帮助等任何资讯和该接受这个termination letter还是找找法律讨个公平）。二来希望大家以我的例子为前车之鉴。谢谢大家！”
网友GoingConcern回复：Practically, there is not much to gain from a legal action in your case, even though I do think the nature of the matter should give you better justice. At this point, what I can think of are:
Option 1: Resignation
Can you negotiate with the company like this: You will resign from the job, with no serverance pay. Take your vacation days left, and use the "two week notice rule" if possible. On your HR file, it will be described as "resignation". Even if they put it as "termination with other reasons", it will not have much negative impact on your future career. The condition of leaving without serverence is that a. the company agrees to accept your resignation and b.withdraw that statement of "aggressiveness" from your HR file and c. agree to remain neutral in future reference. Then it will be worth losing 6 weeks' pay. The Privacy Act has related clause in protecting privacy in this respect . A properly trained HR professional should be well aware of their duty to protect ex-employees' personal information including incidents like this.
Option 2: Personal Statement
If the employer refuse to accept option 1, it will not be too big a deal either. Accept the severance package and sign the letter, take a good vacation and bounce back! !!! BUT!!! you have a right to file a statement on your account, objectively describing the whole incident from your perspective, and ask HR to sign it to acknowledge that they have reveiwed and confirmed that this is what actually happened. Even if they would not sign to agree, have them sign confirming this has been discussed by both parties. Ask this statement to be filed permanently in your HR file and keep the orginal HR signed copy for yourself.
Option 3: Legal Action
If the employer refuse your reasonable offer in option 1 and 2, indicate that you will definitely seek legal action. If it is big company, this a big trouble to them and they would normally seek to resolve with you in private if your lawyer represent you. If it is a small company, it is hard to say. Anyway, if they do file financial statement, matters like these needs to be disclosed as possible financial obgliation in notes to financial statement. I have seen in the past, in most cases, such suites are filed in the name of "descrimination" and in the market, lawyers would be very willing to represent you if they know the company has big bucks. The catch is: you do need to have proper evidence. Your lawyer should be able to guide you further.
For your consideration. Option 3 should be a last resort and it will be a lose-lose situation, not to mention that it may last a long time. If your priority is to get on with your life and have a new job soon, you should be cautious and try to make peace with the company. After all, it is very obvious that they should know they have treated you unfairly. Who in this world does not have an emotional moment? If you have not laid any hands on your colleagues but just patted on your own desk, it is not fair to dismiss you on this stand-alone detail or equating this as "agressiveness". Their lack of proper procedues of warning in writing is, by itself, a loophole your lawyer could very well utilize should you choose to go to court.
Take care and thansk for sharing this with all of us. If you need any help with drafting a personal statement, I could offer some help, unless you have a lawyer or legal service who will be able to offer better and professional help.
GC更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net