Slashdot Mirror
Can You Be Sued for Quitting?
An anonymous reader asks: "I work at a large hosting company in Texas, and recently decided to go work for a smaller competitor. I had a great relationship with my employer and wanted to leave on good terms, and I hadn't signed any non-compete or employment agreements . I felt my old company had just gotten too large and I didn't like working there anymore, so I gave them two weeks notice in writing. They were really upset when I insisted on leaving and one week into my last two weeks the V.P. of Sales told me the company was suing me for leaving, and they were also suing my new employer for hiring me. I was shocked, and they then escorted me out of the building. Has anybody ever heard of this happening? Do they have any legal basis for suing me?" It shouldn't have to be said that seeking professional legal representation, in such a situation, is the first thing one should do.
This isn't Germany and we do not have anything resembling a socialist work structure. Unless your employment contract states otherwise the two weeks notice itself is a mere courtesy, not a legal requirement. In fact, in many businesses you can expect them to have security escort you out of the building immediately upon giving notice; or fire you without any notice at all.
KFG
Didn't have time to read through ALL 364+ comments, so if it's already been said, sorry:
Texas is a right-to-work / work-at-will state. You can leave or be fired at anytime for no reason whatsoever.
I'm not really a web designer, I just play one on the Internet.
The trade off for not being able to form unions in this state is that employers can not expect that their employees stick around. You can be fired at any time, and you can quit at any time. Normally this works out to the detriment of the employee, but Capitalism can be a bitch for the employer too. Hopefully they won't put you in the poor house before this gets thrown out of court.
This is absolutely false. You can say bad things about former employees. Many people don't because they don't want to run the risk of the former employee finding out and suing for defamation. If you are confident that what you say is true and that you can defend it if necessary, or are confident that the ex-employee won't find out, you can say negative things. Its a matter of how much risk there is of a suit for defamation.
> If they don't want to pay for your unemployment, they need documented proof as to why they fired you
They can do what Battelle did to me. I gave my two weeks notice hoping that they would remedy the issues which I clearly addressed in my letter. When the two weeks passed without even the slightest attempt at negotiation I reiterated, in a meeting with my manager, the issues governing my decision to part ways with them. When I was treated with crude disdain I followed through on my notice and left.
The company then, over the course of the next week, notified me that I had been terminated unwillfully (making the official stance, in the eyes of corporate HR, a "firing") and made two direct deposits into my bank account. A month later they sent a collection letter to my address stating that I had been overpaid and demanding ~$1300 payment.
It's probably still on my credit record.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac