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So I just got a call from Chewie, my brother (we're real-life twins). On his way to work he got into a fender-bender car accident which he will have to pony up some cash for. This is kinda sucky, but compounded by the events that followed. As soon as he got into work they informed him that they had lost 20% of their contracts, and that he was the first of their layoffs. They handed him a cardboard box and their sincere apologies. So to sum up, within 2 hours he was in a car accident and got laid-off on unrelated circumstances. I suppose he'll be on later to post a play-by-play, but I thought this community should know that one of our friends is having a really rough time.

Ah, damn it. I remember that he only just got this job not too long ago after being kicked out several times somewhere else.

salm wrote:Ah, damn it. I remember that he only just got this job not too long ago after being kicked out several times somewhere else.

I believe this is his 2nd or 3rd layoff in 2 years. He's a smart guy, and good at what he does. Post here if you know of any places that are looking for a Geophysicist.

As a fellow member of the vast worldwide community of the unemployed, I'll say that your brother has my sympathies. Is this going to leave him in serious economic hardship or just a mostly annoying setback (I'm guessing the former, but it never hurts to ask)?

Murazor wrote:As a fellow member of the vast worldwide community of the unemployed, I'll say that your brother has my sympathies. Is this going to leave him in serious economic hardship or just a mostly annoying setback (I'm guessing the former, but it never hurts to ask)?

He's very savvy about his finances and has himself set up for at least several months if not more. This is a very annoying setback to say the least.

Sorry to hear about that. Tell Chewie he has my sympathies.

I've been fortunate enough to have never been laid off or fired. I've left places (usually when I was a student and it was time to go back to school), and I've quit when I had other opportunities or when I had a problem with the working environment (in one case, I literally had a problem with the environment; I was allergic to certain air pollutants and I was getting sick). But I've never had the experience of coming into work and getting a pink slip out of the blue.

Darth Wong wrote:Sorry to hear about that. Tell Chewie he has my sympathies.

I've been fortunate enough to have never been laid off or fired. I've left places (usually when I was a student and it was time to go back to school), and I've quit when I had other opportunities or when I had a problem with the working environment (in one case, I literally had a problem with the environment; I was allergic to certain air pollutants and I was getting sick). But I've never had the experience of coming into work and getting a pink slip out of the blue.

There was a round of layoffs here a few months back, and one of the guys who got laid off was actually on vacation. Some shmuck decided it would save time and just left two cardboard boxes in his cubicle with a note that said "see me when you get in". I think he filed a claim for suffering such "public humiliation" or something and got a better package because of it. I got fired once from a job as a landscaper, but I've got no complaints about that (I was really bad at the job, but I needed work) and right now I'm looking for a new industry to get into.

Kodiak wrote:Post here if you know of any places that are looking for a Geophysicist.

I know this is probably a little bit on the vague side, but I know that the demand for environmental professionals is still pretty strong in the NEPA contracting business (writing environmental impact statements on Yucca Mountain, border fence, other public projects). Maybe that would be something worth looking into. And the job security is about as tight as it gets, since the government will probably need to increase public infrastructure projects in the future to deal with the energy crisis.

And sorry about what happened to your brother. There are a few kids at my school who have part time jobs as engineering technicians (while working on an engineering degree) and they're facing layoffs. Scary stuff.

Well, I'm pretty sure I've had worse days, but I'll be damned if I can think of one. I went from job & car to neither in about 3 hours, but I'm pretty sure I'll have the car back in a week. On the plus side, I got to do some hysterical laughing in my boss's office.

I'm fine for cash in the meanwhile, and I'll be looking for work where I can.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:On the plus side, I got to do some hysterical laughing in my boss's office.

You laughed hysterically? How'd that go?

That is one sucky day, Chewie. You might want to consider not playing the lottery today.

SCRawl wrote:That is one sucky day, Chewie. You might want to consider not playing the lottery today.

I can see it: he goes in, buys a ticket, the store explodes.

Sorry to hear about Chewie being laid off. I've been there before. I got laid off in October 2002 when jobs were really scarce and it was a terrible feeling. Having purchased a place in the previous 6 months made it all the worse.

It is a terribly insecure feeling to be laid off. Especially when the layoffs are random, although my experience taught me it is often best to be in the 1st groups of layoffs as they get the biggest packages.

I was in the very last round and got 2 weeks severence.

I didn't get severence. They said why, but I wasn't really comprehending at the time.

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I didn't get severence. They said why, but I wasn't really comprehending at the time.

I hope you get another job soon Chewie, even in this troubled economic times.

I've been laid off\fired a few times but that was years ago when I was fresh out of high school. I didn't have an appropriate grasp on the necessity of why I needed to work. Of all of the jobs I held, I only received severance pay once and that was because the company was planning to lay off over 10% of the workforce and by law they had to give out severance pay.

They can do that like this? I mean, without warning? This sounded pretty harsh...

Is this the first official SDN victim of the economic downturn, or is it circumstances unrelated?

Ahhh bullshit though, it sucks. Keep your chin up Chewie, and never shave your beard again. It's just not good luck.

tim31 wrote:Is this the first official SDN victim of the economic downturn, or is it circumstances unrelated?

Ahhh bullshit though, it sucks. Keep your chin up Chewie, and never shave your beard again. It's just not good luck.

Yes, if you luck out the beard can be used as housing or knitted into a portable warming blanket.
My own situation as a contractor I'm looking for steady work FAST, but sad to say I have been for over a year.

PeZook wrote:They can do that like this? I mean, without warning? This sounded pretty harsh...

No idea of what kind of contract CaptainChewbacca had, but my last job involved replacing someone in the accounting department of a large firm for the summer campaign. I was told (verbally, of course) that they expected this to last a couple of months and should I turn out OK, the possibility of a more permanent arrangement was open.

Roughly a month later, about halfway through the 45 days legal probation period, I got fired at the end of the day with no forewarning whatsoever and getting no severance, because I had been too little time. I was particularly upset, because I got a call from the human resources agency that had been the intermediary after working hours and I had left a number of personal things in the office, which I recovered only after jumping through a number of hoops.

Most surprising of all, though, is that I learned a few days later, that a number of co-workers in the department who had been working there for a lot longer than myself (including someone who had been there for a couple of years) got fired the same day and in the same way.

I've seen someone here (Duchess of Zeon?) describe this as "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen". It certainly fits and I'm not terribly surprised to hear this.

PeZook wrote:They can do that like this? I mean, without warning? This sounded pretty harsh...

California has a wonderful policy called "Employment at Will" which means you can be fired (or quit) for any time and for any or no reason without notice. Most large companies will give some sort of severance (at my company they give "two weeks in-lieu of notice) plus bonuses for years worked, but there's nothing guaranteed here.

Kodiak wrote:

PeZook wrote:They can do that like this? I mean, without warning? This sounded pretty harsh...

California has a wonderful policy called "Employment at Will" which means you can be fired (or quit) for any time and for any or no reason without notice. Most large companies will give some sort of severance (at my company they give "two weeks in-lieu of notice) plus bonuses for years worked, but there's nothing guaranteed here.

That's pretty draconian. Here in the civilized world if you're sacked without cause you're entitled to one week per year at a minimum, with anything over three months counting as a year, regardless of the size of the company. (Realistically, if you're an employee with some seniority and/or responsibility then it goes up from there, since a wrongful dismissal lawsuit is a possible avenue for the sackee.) The idea is that if you want to hire someone for a look-see, three months is enough to decide whether or not to keep them; any longer than that and you have to give a decent amount of notice, or pay in lieu of notice.

As an aside, a softball teammate of mine got a pretty raw deal recently. The company he worked for was acquired by a conglomerate, run into the ground, and declared bankruptcy so they could avoid paying off the entire staff. One guy had been there for about 25 years, and he walked away with a "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out".

The only plus side to "At Will" is that it is often accompanied by Unemployment laws which force the company to shell out some cash anyway anytime the termination is for anything other than "cause" or "resignation." That is because Chewie was laid off and not fired for cause he shoudl (not positive about the exact nature of state law here) have the right to collect unemployment benefits. In turn the company which fired him has to pay into the state's unemployment fund unless they can show it was termination with cause.

Obviously it is different if this was contract employment because then if the termination was handled in a manner not consistent with the language of the contract its a breach whcih Chewie could then sue and recover damages. If its contract employment terminated correctly then..well then he's shit out of luck.

Shit Chewie. Sorry to hear that man.

Kodiak wrote:I believe this is his 2nd or 3rd layoff in 2 years. He's a smart guy, and good at what he does. Post here if you know of any places that are looking for a Geophysicist.

I believe that Australia wants Geophysicists. That might be a bit out of your way, though.

Lusankya wrote:

Kodiak wrote:I believe this is his 2nd or 3rd layoff in 2 years. He's a smart guy, and good at what he does. Post here if you know of any places that are looking for a Geophysicist.

I believe that Australia wants Geophysicists. That might be a bit out of your way, though.

He's single, has his own pith helmet, and wouldn't mind being in the same timezone as hobbiton