[SunRescue] Rant on industry employment practices, was RE: 16 MB memory module for Voyager

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

Hate to say it, but (at least in this state, in Silicon valley), there
fabled "employee-employer relationship" doesn't exist.  It's something
more of a "ho-pimp relationship".  Each side tries to take what they need
or what they want at the best possible selling price.  Scruples?  What are
those...


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Ed Mitchell (ed<-at->the7thbeer.com)
Finger for PGP public key
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This boxen's uptime stats....
  3:35am  up 92 day(s), 18:18,  1 user,  load average: 1.00, 1.05, 1.05


On Sun, 7 Jan 2001, Christopher Byrne wrote:

> In november, my employer of exactly one pay period less than six months said
> that they "loved my work, thought I was great, but that I was simply not the
> right person for the job going forward, sorry." This was done without
> notice, and without prior disciplinary action of any kind to warrant it. I
> was given almost $20,000 in a "value added separation package", and asked
> very politely not to sue them. In California you cannot sign away your right
> to sue without the approval of a court. They set it up this way so that
> employers can't hold an employee's severance pay hostage to signing a
> no-fault no-sue agreement.
> 
> Not coincidentally had I been employed for that one more pay period I would
> have recieved my first 12.5% vestment of stock at a ridiculously low strike
> price. At 50,000 shares and $.05 a share I had negotiated four times as much
> stock, and at a lower strike price than any other engineer in our
> department. Under the most recent VC valuation of the company, an expected
> post IPO value of a stable $80 a share, with an inital shot of well over
> $100 per share was discussed as a realistic figure.
> 
> This was literally the worst possible time to lose me as I was juggling some
> sixteen absolutely critical projects all at once, and I was literally the
> only person able to bring them together. I was on time, on budget, and on
> schedule to bring them all to success before my dec 21st deadline.
> 
> It is now two months later, and the six consultants they hired (I'm not
> kidding here) to do my jobs have not quite gotten up to speed at the point I
> was at when I was fired, never mind going forward with the projects.
> 
> My former boss has actually gone to the board of directors of the company
> several times to ask to hire me back, or at least to try and get me to act
> as a consultant for them, however apparently they are afraid of being sued
> for wrongful dismissal, and believe that if they did so, I would have an
> even stronger case than I already do.
> 
> I still have many friends in the company who were shocked and very upset at
> my termination, and they update me with regular, often humorous progress
> reports.
> 
> All of this begs the question, why was I terminated?
> 
> Anyway it doesnt matter to me moneywise. I live in Bay Area, and am in a
> very competitive field so I literally have to turn away work, but the lack
> of loyalty, and lack of integrity in the process just really pisses me off.
> I'm sure many of us have been there before, and will be again.
> 
> 
> Chris Byrne
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rescue-admin at sunhelp.org [mailto:rescue-admin at sunhelp.org]On
> Behalf Of Peter L. Wargo
> Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 00:44
> To: rescue at sunhelp.org
> Subject: Re: [SunRescue] FS: 16 MB memory module for Voyager
> 
> 
> on 1/6/01 18:55, Mike Hebel at drone8of9 at crosswinds.net wrote:
> 
> >>> Well my employer gave me and over 100 other of my co-workers the boot
> >>> Thursday.
> >
> > Sorry to hear that dude.  It sucks being laid off unless you've got
> > something in the works.
> 
> Hear, hear!  Having been there meself, I know what it's like.  (Worse thing
> was having to lay off ppl. working for me first.  VERY depressing.)
> 
> Hopefully, you have something in the works, and if you don't, let me know
> off-list and I'll push your resume if I can.
> 
> -Pete W.
> 
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