Borders employee sues company
Borders employee sues company.
Details here: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-employee-sues-borders-over-mass-layoffs-233100427.html
We'll see if anything comes of this.
Details here: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-employee-sues-borders-over-mass-layoffs-233100427.html
We'll see if anything comes of this.
Unofficially in numerous meetings more than 60 days prior to layoffs we were told that without a buyer Borders would more than likely cease operations and we would be out of work in AA. That should have been a huge hint to Jared and everyone else. The bigger hint or wake up call came in February. Since roughly March nearly everyone that I had contact with in AA was at some stage of job hunting, from resume writing to interviewing. AA employees were leaving at a rate of 5+ a week since early March. Sure nobody was given an official letter but you would have had to been blind not to see what was going on.
Jared, like everyone else, in AA knew full well what was happening. Roz basically said in many meetings if you need to leave then go. Management at all levels openly encouraged people to start looking and supported them with recommendations.
There were / are severance packages(though merger) being given out in AA. This did not happen in the field.
As for "pension contributions" 401k match stopped 3 years ago and Borders did not have a true pension plan.
If Jared and others can get something out of this then great but it likely will never happen. I would remind Jared that he had every opportunity to look elsewhere as we all did. He also had time to get as ready as you can for a possible layoff. I would also remind him that AA employees were not to only ones affected by this and previous rounds of layoffs. Those folks had less of a warning than we did.
Also, Michigan is an "at will state" meaning that your employer can let you go anytime without a reason and you can leave at anytime. I am not sure how that plays into this case. Lawsuits like this have been filed against Borders before.
One last comment for Jared. Just remember that those in AA at the end were treated better than those in the field. Sure you are pissed off and rightly so but you are only one of over 19,000 in July 2011 and only one of 35,500 in February 2011. There were many more before that. So sorry if it is not all hugs and kisses for you.
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I sat in every all hands meeting in 142 since going into BK and felt the company did everything to let us know that there was a real possibility of not making it.
This Jared chump is just trying to get free money, dude get over it, move on and get another job, although with what you just did with the lawsuit, don't know many employers will touch you now!
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Progress is also made by letting people express their opinions whether you agree or not. That is true progress. That is America. Progress is not made in the courts. There is a fine final between law and common sense. Jared may or may not have both on his side.
Legally speaking, a law may our may not have been broken. It is for the court to decide. Who knows Jared may win his case. No said anything about pardoning Borders. No love lost on that.
How much do you want to bet the Borders' defense is "he did get severance pay" which of course would have nothing to do with the basis of the case. But when did Borders ever try to tackle an issue head on?
Your comments are very common man & very blue color which are things that Borders forgot about years ago.
Are you corporate and will you join Jared's lawsuit?
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Oh, and you're going to tell me progress wasn't made in this country in the court system with cases like "Roe Vs Wade" or "Brown Vs. Board of Education"? Please. Grow up.
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"Even if Jared doesn't win, it'll be a huge moral victory and the court of public opinion will be appeased."
What in the world does that mean? Are you just spouting cliche for fun?
Lets take a second and break this down.
"Even if Jared doesn't win [the lawsuit], [the lawsuit] will be a huge moral victory..."
I don't think you understand what a moral victory is. Being down 8-0 in a baseball game only come back and tie, but lose in extra innings can be considered a moral victory. Losing a court case and getting nothing is not a moral victory. It is a loss. Fairly simple. I'm no lawyer, but from what little was written here, it seems as if the court will find the law was broken (WIN!) or not (loss.)
Or the second part:
"Even if Jared doesn't win...the court of public opinion will be appeased."
Gibberish again. What public opinion? The hundreds of people still reading this board? And how does a loss appease them? Seriously, my brain hurts.
And what bravery are you applauding? These people have been fired. they have nothing to lose. How are they brave for suing a company that soon wont exist?
My favorite part of your comment had to be "and speaking of milk." Hilarious and completely nonsensical.
Leave the trolling to the King Troll. At least he makes me laugh.
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Secondly, even if Jared wasn't going to win, which he is, it would be a moral victory because someone would have stood up and made headlines on an issue of injustice, and people would remember that. The employees of any company that violates labor laws should be protected by the government, and Jared is a good upstanding citizen who's blowing the whistle on them. And I would read up on W.A.R.N. and its parameters if I were you, otherwise you increase your chances that the next post you make will sound even more stupid.
Thirdly, "court of public opinion" is a legal term, not a cliche. I think you need to go back and take English and/or Law 101. Either that or get a life.
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Let me try to explain the court of public opinion to you, because you don't seem to get it. You have to have a public. A quick google search for Jared's name reveals some personal stuff, and one article about this lawsuit. A news search reveals more sources on the lawsuit, but they are mostly in blog form, and they are either copies of the Reuters article or quote only the Reuters article. You can have a small scale public opinion battle (think local government,) but if no one cares and no one reports it, you lose that battle.
As for the moral victory, you seem to think that you can lose everything and still claim it. Something has to be won. And I concede that frequently moral victories are claimed solely on pride. A loss in this case, however, doesn't result in pride. It doesn't give anyone a stepping stone to win something in the future. It just costs the losers money. That is it.
But lets get down to the case. I read up on the WARN act and its parameters as you suggested. I'm no legal expert, but it seems to me that Borders might be eligible for two out of the three exemptions to WARN. The first exemption may not apply, but "unforeseeable business circumstances" and its description sound exactly like what might happen if your #1 bidder in a bankruptcy auction pulls out 2 days before the deadline.
But this has been fun, we should do it again sometime.
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As for my "bonus" from the liqudator. I received a check for a whopping $700. $700 for 8 years of hard work, staying half the night to get merchandise sets done, general maintenance that BINC wouldn't pay for, etc.
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