Terminated illegally I believe

Nurses General Nursing

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I am going to try to make a very long story short. I was terminated Friday because I would not sign a non-compete agreement which was very vague and given to us with no explanations and a dead-lineo f 2 days to sign and if we didn't we are fired. Oh yeah, I work at an LTACH for 6 very rocky months as a nurse manager. The place is run awfully by a non-clinical CEO who decided to do this out of no where. i knew my job wasn't safe there, and this non-compete agreement would have not let me work within 10 mi of "Company" for 2 years after termination or leaving. There are many hospitals within a 10 mi radious, inclusing the one I left and started my career at to take this job.

I made a meeting with the CEO to ask for an amendment to the agreement before I sign. He is trying to say we can't work at another LTACH, but the agreement just says "company" he took this opportunity to go off on me, tell me I was doing a crappy job, and told me if I do not sign, I am terminated. I told him I would not sign unless he amended it to say LTACH. He said, fine then you are terminated. In front of the director of HR I made him say he was terminating me for the reason of me not signing the agreement. He was very clear about that. he said as of that day I was terminated and have 2 weeks.

SO, later HR (I am friendly with her) calls and tells me he will forget everything if I sign the agreement. I say no. not unless it is ammended, and after the attack, I don't feel safe signing it, he'll just fire me for other reasons. Then way later, my ex nurse manager form my other facility who works there also calls me and says he went into the office and sais he would not sign the agreement unless he changed it to LTACH. The CEO then says "sure, I'll change it" WTH? he told me he wouldn't and I should just take his word for it.

he wants to give me a chance now to sign the ammended agreement. I and others feel he is saying that because after he terminated me for not signing it, he consulted his lawyers, found out what he did was illegal and trying to go back on it now.

I have been told I have a case. I believe I do. I go back, then he fires me for a totally different reason. He terminated me for not signing the agreement without the ammendment THEN went and changed the agreement to exactly what I asked, and now is trying to save his butt by giving me a chance to sign it? Hell no!

So I will be talking to a lawyer on Monday. I was just wondering, should I go into work monday, even though he said I was terminated and had 2 weeks. Me going into work is simply me going as a terminated employee , getting my last paycheck and tying up lose ends, because i care aboutt he others I work with.

ANy thoughts at all on anything I wrote would be appreciated

Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
I am not sure if you work in a "right to work" state or not, but I will tell you that as an IT contractor, I was "required" to sign many a "non-compete" contract. Yes, I signed. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT ENFORCEABLE!!!!

As an example, when Winn-Dixie went bankrupt, we signed - as a part of the layoff agreement - that we could not work at another grocery chain for X years. Half of my laidoff co-workers immediately got IT jobs at Publix. Yeah, go ahead, try and enforce THAT in a right to work state!!!! :p

I wouldn't generalize to say that they are not enforceable (because as a former manager, I have personally went to court to make sure that they were enforced because I witnessed many of these contracts), however, in your case, that was an exception because there is a spirit in the law that states if a contract is so one-sided, that it can be rendered "void" by the court.

Forcing employees that were laid off and in a state of distress and needing money to sign a non-compete clause? Yup, that would qualify as one-sided...benefiting NO ONE but the company.

Specializes in ICU.

SO I went into work today. I was presented with the new agreement from HR. I said I am not signing it until I see a lawyer. I went up to my office and shortly after the jerkoff CEO decided to get rid of me right then and there. So my employment is definitely over. Got a termination letter and everything and the escort out of the building, which was filled with lots of hugs.

I reached out to the medical director who happened to be at my old hospital on my old unit and got me o with the director of critical care right away. I could have my nights ICU position back right away if I wanted,, but I can't because of childcare issues. But they understand all of this and are considering me for either a case management position or Nurse manager of a telemetry floor. I will get to meet with HR. I have been getting lots of well wishing texts from my former coworkers. It means alot to me.

I will pursue the case, I will find myself another job in the meantime. I believe getting out of here, in which ever way it was, was for the best.

Specializes in Home health was tops, 2nd was L&D.

Every thing happens for a reason!

Yea thanks for the update..I was curious how the day would go. Its probably good that you aren't working for such a tyrant anyway...best wishes to you.

Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

i reached out to the medical director who happened to be at my old hospital on my old unit and got me o with the director of critical care right away....... i could have my nights icu position back right away if i wanted,, but i can't because of childcare issues. but they understand all of this and.... i will get to meet with hr. i have been getting lots of well wishing texts from my former coworkers. it means alot to me.

i will pursue the case, i will find myself another job in the meantime. i believe getting out of here, in which ever way it was, was for the best.

yeah!!! it sounds like everything will work out for the better. good for you for standing up for yourself and your family in this situation. as you have seen by your former scared co-workers, most do not!!! in fact, this is why employers located in at-will states work very hard to establish laws against the protection of workers. in addition, their power has led them to falsly believe that they are no longer operating in america...

at the state level they have managed to create mini-dictatorships, where they can have slaves or indentured servants with very few rights who will sign such contracts out of fear of losing a job in a tight economy.

if you have a case, take that jerk ceo to court and show him how ungodly and un-american he has behaved! make him pay, since the loss of money is the only thing that will make him feel the pain he has caused so many others! good luck!!!!:twocents:

Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
yeah!!! it sounds like everything will work out for the better. good for you for standing up for yourself and your family in this situation. as you have seen by your former scared co-workers, most do not!!! in fact, this is why employers located in at-will states work very hard to establish laws against the protection of workers. in addition, their power has led them to falsly believe that they are no longer operating in america...

at the state level they have managed to create mini-dictatorships, where they can have slaves or indentured servants with very few rights who will sign such contracts out of fear of losing a job in a tight economy.

if you have a case, take that jerk ceo to court and show him how ungodly and un-american he has behaved! make him pay, since the loss of money is the only thing that will make him feel the pain he has caused so many others! good luck!!!!:twocents:

i agree! i feel that if you go after them, you'll find out how "legal" their action was not.

true story: a close friend of mine used to work a "salary" position for a background investigations firm. they had them work overtime every week, but did not pay them overtime using the excuse that they were "salary". yet, if they left a couple of hours early for a doctor's appointment, they were docked pay.

i want to emphasize that this was a major, international company. i won't state the name here, but if i did, everyone would recognize it.

she was fired for refusing to engage, in her mind, an illegal activity that the company was participating in. she waited a month on her final check and did not receive it, so she started filing a complaing with the labor board after her phone calls to hr went unanswered.

then she found out something interesting...apparently, her job description, in customer service, did not permit her to be legally paid a salary...at all. so they owed her for every time she worked over, which she did keep a record of.

a rep with the labor board started an investigation and went through their time records over three years and found multiple time violations. they were fined tens of thousands of dollars and my friend not only won her case, she received a check for about $12k in back pay.

moral of this story: don't assume that just because a company is big, that they do things right, or just because they are big, doesn't mean you cannot fight a battle and win.

she never got an attorney or spent one dime on court costs.

Great story - good lessons. Thanks!

redglasses

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