Bank’S Severance Deal Indebts Laid Off It Workers To Be ‘On Call’ For 2 Years Of Tech Support — Without Pay

[kjw]

A severance deal that SunTrust Banks has reportedly provided to as many as 100 laid off technology workers would require the employees to continue providing assistance to the company for a period of two years without additional compensation.

Computerworld reported this week that a number of employees who had received layoff notices from the Atlanta-based company provided a copy of the severance deal, “which gives the bank a way to tap their expertise long after their departure.” [more at link]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/banks-severance-deal-indebts-laid-off-it-workers-to-be-on-call-for-2-years-of-tech-support-without-pay/

[Guest eight]

A severance deal that SunTrust Banks has reportedly provided to as many as 100 laid off technology workers would require the employees to continue providing assistance to the company for a period of two years without additional compensation.

Computerworld reported this week that a number of employees who had received layoff notices from the Atlanta-based company provided a copy of the severance deal, “which gives the bank a way to tap their expertise long after their departure.” [more at link]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/banks-severance-deal-indebts-laid-off-it-workers-to-be-on-call-for-2-years-of-tech-support-without-pay/

Good luck making this work. A place that made me redundant once rang up a few days later (when I was still technically an employee) asking for a password for a file that I maintained. Naturally the stress of the situation had caused me to "forget" it.

[spyguy]

I saw this on slashdot.

Any HR/legal dept that produces a contract that includes the word 'reasonable' should be pushing trolleys in the car park at B+Q.

I think this would be illegal in the UK/EU. Good luck claiming someone is redundant and then trying to say, well, we still them on call.

Frankly, if a company feel the needs to produce a contract like this then the entire management and HR dept should be kicked out on their ar5es.

This comes from the batch of stupid as a company I came across recently. The MD had bought into the whole 'BYO' IT BS. I said thats fine - I have no problem exposing stuff like company info, timesheets, process documentation etc to peoples phones or whatever. They are the companies property but they are hardly core. But I said, you have quite a few developers. Oh yes, they do their own work on their own computers, he said, they sort out their own machines, does not cost the company a penny.

How do you get the companies IP back when the developer leaves? I ask.

Some people are just thick.

[interestrateripoff]

This just reduces the value of the redundancy payment if its linked to potential future work. Some issues could easily take days to resolve and they expect these people just to be in a position to stop working for the new employer and run and help them?

If this gets to a court case because a former employee refuses to work it's going to be interesting to see if this contract is enforceable in US courts.

[iamnumerate]

Really stupid thing to do, someone who is annoyed could do serious damage.

[200p]

This just reduces the value of the redundancy payment if its linked to potential future work. Some issues could easily take days to resolve and they expect these people just to be in a position to stop working for the new employer and run and help them?

If this gets to a court case because a former employee refuses to work it's going to be interesting to see if this contract is enforceable in US courts.

Also it might bring up issues if the new employer was a direct competitor, and you stopped work to help the old company out.

It won't and can't work.

[Sour Mash]

Also of course, if they feel that the new state of affairs is so unstable/unreliable that they need to have the old staff available for two years to sort out problems then why the hell are they going ahead with offshoring the operation?

Then again, banks and shonky IT policy seem to go together - thinking back to the RBS debacle .......

[interestrateripoff]

Just had another thought, if you aren't working on the systems your going to forget what you did. A job that might have took a few minutes or an hour to resolve could suddenly take days whilst you relearn what you forgot and if the new people have made changes to the system you are unaware of, they could unintentionally cause bigger problems.

This appears an even more stupid decision than it appears at first.

[steve99]

I had to train the Indians that took over my job in order to get propper redundancy pay, propper as in more than the minimum legal. After the whole week devoted to this degrading task, they knew nothing, well nothing of what took me 6 years to accumulate but according to management think, one week should be enough. Anway for months after I left and still unemployed I got numerous calls for help cause the 'Indians' (as they quoted each time) did not understand the technology, processes and procedures to keep things running smoothly.. On each occasion I asked to be taken on as a consultant with pay of course but that was 'beyond the buget' so they got nothing... eventually they lost many customers.

I like to think a little natural justice was at work for a change.

Yes management really do think that you can train someone up to 10,000 hours experience in a field of technology in a week or two, I have experienced this in many companies over a few decades and it is always to their detriment when they dont do it propperly.

[wonderpup]

Yes management really do think that you can train someone up to 10,000 hours experience in a field of technology in a week or two, I have experienced this in many companies over a few decades and it is always to their detriment when they dont do it propperly.

I think part of the problem is that the more efficient and seamless a process is the more simple it appears to anyone not actually engaged in doing it, which leads to a completely naive assessment as to how easy it would be to replace the people making it happen.

Which in turn leads to a rather depressing thought- the more skilled and efficient you are the more likely you are to be replaced on the basis that what you do seems so easy and transparent to it's end user that 'anyone' could do it, given a few weeks training.

[anonguest]

Really stupid thing to do, someone who is annoyed could do serious damage.

Quite.

Given these never ending and ceaselessly incredulous stories of how companies and their HR depts behave towards workers in the U.S, it is no longer quite so surprising/puzzling to me anymore why we also continuously hear of workplace killing sprees by disgruntled/laid off workers.

[Motor_Blade]

I think part of the problem is that the more efficient and seamless a process is the more simple it appears to anyone not actually engaged in doing it, which leads to a completely naive assessment as to how easy it would be to replace the people making it happen.

Which in turn leads to a rather depressing thought- the more skilled and efficient you are the more likely you are to be replaced on the basis that what you do seems so easy and transparent to it's end user that 'anyone' could do it, given a few weeks training.

Nail on the head here mate, if you want to get ahead in the corporate world these days the best way is to make a complete f**k up of something and then make yourself into a hero by solving the problems you created in the first place. Getting things right in the first place is just taken for granted.

[billybong]

Likely the severance pay is low as well. It's a form of zero hours contract for skilled employees. Might as well go on benefits - why bother training for years.

Ultimately it's because the management and supervision are totally inept, incompetent and self serving.

Edited October 22, 2015 by billybong