I had worked at a small end rural internet company for nearly 6 years. It was family owned and they paid us all really well for the work that we did. Barely anyone ever left the company. In my position, I was head of sales and I controlled all software that was associated to clients. This had everything in it including billing addresses, service addresses and leads for new clients. It was an outdated program for sure, but it got the job done and it worked for us. Fast forward time and we are still doing our regular jobs when there was an unscheduled meeting thrown at us. We walked in and there were several new faces sitting on the other end of the table. They announced that they had sold the company to XYZ. XYZ seemed like an okay place to continue working because they too were local and the team seemed nice. I was told everything is business as usual and to not do anything different. The transition took place and ever so often, someone from the new company would come to me and ask how we would do things and get a feel for it. I could tell they were trying to weed us out so I went balls to the wall with renewals on old accounts. They announced to me that I needed to go to the HR department around closing time. Having anticipated this, I saved all of my commission files and emailed them to myself. I went to the office and they laid me off on the spot because they do not pay commission to their staff. I said okay and that I plan on them still paying me commission for the time I was there as they had not discussed anything pay related with me yet. She said again we do not pay commission. I emailed my commission statement to the manager I was working with and basically was told the same thing. Fast forward to the next week when they realized they no longer had the credentials to get into our system and they called to ask for the information. I let them know that I would be happy to do that when I come up there to get my check for commission. I did not hear anything the next day and then I get a call that my commission check is in the office. I went up there, grabbed the biggest commission check I had ever made and gave them the credentials. Never tell someone business as usual when you do not intent on things being business as usual.
Buy out our company and then fire everyone before you change the system? Works for me!
I definitely would have deposited the check first. I wouldn't put it past those jerks to cancel it as soon as they got the info they needed.
Luckily it cleared.
Oh, good! 😊
Honestly, I'd have waited for that first, and then discussed how much they were going to pay to get access to the systems they bought.
I think that’s extortion
Only if you hold it over their heads. Simply frame it as "Would you like to hire me as a consultant to see if I can recreate (not hand over) the access given my extensive personal experience with the system in question?"
Its a gray area for some, rather black and white for others.
The commission check was owed to him for work/services received.
The conversation moving forward can totally allow for a conversation about additional payment for further/new services in the capacity of sharing requested information as a consultant.
OP wasn't their employee anymore. Why should he work for free?
Outside consultant fee.
It only becomes extortion when it is a threat. Ergo, rephrase.
"Ah, yes, I understand your problem with the credentials. Unfortunately, as I am no longer employed by your company, your credentials are not my problem and I am under no legal obligation to assist you with that at this time. Should you desire to pay my consulting fee of *insert at least three times your last month's pay here*, you know how to get in touch!"
You're not holding them ransom, and there's no threat - ie, 'pay me a bunch of money or I won't help you." Because you listed a reason that you are not obligated, but are willing to work with them for what you understand to be a reasonable fee, you've done nothing wrong. They can lose the information, or you can become a temporary consultant.
Bouncing a check like that is against the law the lawsuit they'd have to payout would be magnitudes bigger than any commission they'd owe him
They've already proven willing to play fast and loose with the law to their own detriment.
I would think canceling a check like that would be illegal.
So was adjusting pay like that. Don't think they care.
That's like, openly illegal though.
So is retroactively changing pay terms.
Cancelling check is very illegal and straight up fraud.
And retroactively changing an employee contract without their consent is wage theft…
Better to outsmart them than it is to be right in court
Eh, not always. Sometimes it's an open-and-shut case where you can be awarded double or triple the amount owed. If there is a lot of money on the line, it's probably best to consult with a lawyer.
Cancelling a check is not illegal. Writing a check you intend to cancel at the time of writing it is.
It's a small but critical distinction.
Yes. And it would strengthen OP’s case of them stealing his payroll.
All he’d have to do then is take the check and his other evidence to small claims court. They’d have to pay him, pay the court costs, and pay additional damages for lost time spent in court.
I’ve threatened several landlords with small claims court over not giving back my deposit. They never go for it. They know it’s way more expensive than just giving my money back lol
"Make that a cashier's check please "
I definitely would have deposited the check first.
Here's some hard won knowledge, when you are in a situation like that DON'T deposit the check. They can cancel it after you've deposited it and the money will come back out of your account as fast as it went in.
To make sure you get paid look at the check and see what bank its from then take the check to the closest branch of that bank and have them cash it.
If the account has sufficient funds in it to cover the check the issuing bank will hand you cash right there on the spot. Then you take your cash over to your bank and deposit it.
As an extra tip don't wait, do this immediately after you get the check. A lot of times if a business intends to cancel a check they will wait until they run their daily deposit, meaning you have a window of time to work in and the longer you wait the more risk that the check will be cancelled or not clear.
I learned this many moons ago with a former employer, good people but they were having money trouble as the company went downhill.
tl;dr To make sure you get paid you need to immediately take the check to the closest branch of the issuing bank and have them cash it.
Give them the wrong password, cash the check, when they call for the correct password, give it to them
Also pretty sure it is illegal to change pay terms and then backdated the changes.
[removed]
[removed]
You could, technically, report them for that, and force them to take back the extra money, but for some reason nobody ever does that.
I work for an HRO and believe me, people have called in to ask why they got extra money in their checks. Sometimes it's a couple hundred/thousands sometimes is less than 5 dollars. Everyone wants to keep track of their pay, for tax purposes and to not get screwed over on the next pay day.
Unless they are on disability & can only make so much $ a month.
There's nothing illegal about paying a worker more than their agreed wage.
It's only illegal to fail to pay a worker their full agreed wage.
("Agreed," in terms of US worker protections means "the employer announced, and the worker didn't quit.")
If it's a downgrade or a different pay style (commission to hourly, hourly to salary, etc). When my company was bought out a new pay scale went into place based on our new job titles. We were placed at the pay level at or closest to (above) our existing rate. Of course, it was still hourly, so it was a raise.
Like super cereal.
Absolutely. They can change terms, but they have to give you notice and the change can't be retroactive.
In most cases. The cases where it doesn't work like that are if they made a major mistake / reasonable mistake.
Ie, they agreed to pay you 50k a year, but someone fat fingered payroll to 500k instead when all paperwork says 50k
But in that case, they're revising it to what was actually agreed on. If, however, they fat-finger the paperwork and your offer letter says $500k/year....
Well, I think there's a decent enough case they'd need to pay you that until they give you notice they're changing it. At least a solid enough case to warrant a hefty settlement.
Even then if they have other paperwork and proof it was 50k they could probably claw it back
There's usually multiple forms of stuff when you get on boarded as redundancies
More like "either you're let go right now or you can keep working here while we fix this paperwork"
They can change terms, but they have to give you notice and the change can't be retroactive.
Depending on location and local labor laws, any changes also typically have to be agreed to as well as reasonable; massively modified working hours / shifts / responsibilities / benefits / location and commute / wage / reimbursement / safety or working conditions / harassment / etc - can all be viewed as constructive dismissal and a breach of employment contract.
It’s super illegal but it still happens. I once had a store manager change my title and pay without informing me or changing my duties at all.
Constructive dismissal.
Is not, itself, illegal in the vast majority of the US. (Montana is the only state without a default presumption of at-will employment.)
It's exactly the same as any other firing. It's illegal to fire someone (or cut their pay to get them to quit, i.e. constructively dismiss) for a discriminatory reason or in retaliation for certain protected actions. It's not illegal to fire someone (or constructively dismiss them) for a legal reason or no reason at all.
It's illegal to cut an employee's pay without telling them, but that has nothing to do with constructive dismissal. The employee's remedy is to file a wage complaint with their state's DoL (or the Federal DoL if they're in Florida, whose DoL doesn't do wage complaints), or sue their employer.
That wouldn't really be constructive dismissal. Constructive dismissal would be changing their title and pay WITH informing them.
This is just straight up illegal.
Only if it hurts the person receiving the money. If your boss says "we should have been paying you $2 more an hour since June, so we're going to give you a check to make up the money you're missing" that is totally legal and ok.
Welcome to sales!
No joke
You're not thinking like a business person. It's only illegal if you're arrested and convicted. Everything else is free!
Maybe you're talking about a stupid person that thinks they are a business person. Even if you wanted to discuss an "unethical business person", they'd never go this route since it would be incredibly easy to prove and the business would almost certainly lose in any court/labor case.
I know a stupid business person that never paid their bills. Apparently was a billionaire and became president. So it does work.
But for real, a lot of big rich guys stiff paying people and say “sue me” knowing the average person can’t afford it. It’s how one of our local real estate guy worked and he now owns an NHL franchise.
But for real, a lot of big rich guys stiff paying people and say “sue me” knowing the average person can’t afford it.
You're not following.
You don't need to sue an employer in this situation. The state labor board will almost certainly take care of this itself. This is not some contract dispute where you agreed to use materials of X quality but used -20% X quality, or some other nebulous thing that needs to be determined.
Simple labor issues like not paying well documented hours and/or pay rates are a completely different story, and there's an entire department that loves to go to the mat with employers on this issue. It's the same concept with failing to remit withholdings to the IRS or state equivalent.
You have much to experience.
There are plenty of stupid people out there, I never said there wasn't. And plenty more unethical ones. But only the stupidest would pull something this blatantly illegal.
I mean the former President has a long history of just not paying for things or services he bought or hired.
Like long long.
So it happens.
And you only lose cases that reach a verdict, if you can't continue a valid suit due to just running out of money to pursue it...
Cool story, and once again, failing to pay people for well documented hours or rates is completely different.
You also have the state labor board act on your behalf, you don't have to ring up some random lawyer.
As a counter to this, my company does sometimes perform positive reviews, then back dates them to the point where they noticed improvement, and cuts me a check for all that time. I like this
Alot of things company do is illegal. The problem is its only wrong when they are caught, charged, and tried on it.
Yes, but many contracts leave the terms open to change specifically stating the burden is on the client or employee to review them.
I forget the exact legalese but the license agreement our company uses (now rolled into a EULA) includes a clause like that and states that any clams and representations a contracted sales rep may provide are not admissible in mediation and to consult with the company's in-house team for any specific requests. In the 20+ years I've worked there only three people have asked me about those clauses and my replies were "We plan on staying around for a while so I imagine many things will probably change in the next 20 years." and "Howard's a great guy, but if he promises you this software will do the laundry for you that's on him and not us. That clause is in there to suggest you call us, if you ask if the software will separate the gentles from the rest we'll know he needs a wellness check."
When I started the contract specified how many ports of which type their computer needed to have, these days you're going to have a hard time finding one with a floppy drive, a parallel port and a DB-9 port.
Yes, but many contracts leave the terms open to change specifically stating the burden is on the client or employee to review them.
They still have to present the changes to you. They can't change something without informing you about it. In this story, he was never informed until after the work was done.
I still work with DB-9 on an almost daily basis.
There are still like three industries that use them, long live the serial port!
Absolutely none of this is relevant to employment law and pay.
Also you should know that if a sales or technical sales person promises that your product will do a thing that it will not, you're incredibly likely to get your (your company's) ass in a lot of trouble if your customer takes it to court. Just because you can make up random legalese to put into an EULA or license agreement doesn't make it enforceable, and no court or mediator ever would say, "yah it's totally cool that you can completely just lie about the product you are making".
I have one in my garage. Need it? Lol.
Also illegal to hold systems hostage after you have been fired, based on precedent. OP got lucky, given I doubt that anyone dumb enough to withhold legally owed pay may not know they can't do it.
Pretty much this. I am in a position where I could hold a large company hostage if I wanted to for whatever reason. But it would very much be illegal. And maybe in a small former mom and pop shop you can get away with it. But if you do this with a large to medium sized company, you can expect lawsuits.
Depends on the state and if there is a contract. The legality of hourly rates is really over thought when legally in many states as long as the employee is paid more than the minimum there isn't many restrictions.
I'm unaware of any state where you and employee and an employer can agree upon some sort of compensation, have work provided, and then the employer can retroactively go back and change that rate for work already completed. There doesn't need to be a contract, simply having worked at a prior rate would be sufficient to show that the rate persists absent a notice otherwise.
What you're talking about would more likely be that an employer could, absent a contract or law otherwise, notify an employee that from X date forward (where X is at least "now" if not in the future) that their pay would be lowered to some amount.
I worked at a small mortgage company. One morning the IT guy got into a shouting match with the big boss. No surprise when he was fired. He was rehired two hours later when no one could log into the network.
Hopefully a raise all in the same day.
At higher pay I'd hope.
Ever heard the phrase "timebomb" in IT? The concept is that the sysadmin has setup up a hidden program or script that checks that he is still with the company. If he isn't the program/script triggers after a set amount of time and changes passwords or even deletes vital information.
fixed one once, was a dick move by a contract dev
Were I live the largest telecom company timebombed them self inadvertedly. The sysadmin responsible for the server running all the companies internetsubscibers mailservices, both private customers and as a service for companies, quit and left the company.
Management never got around to hire his replacement and soon forgot about the servers, which ran unmanaged without backups for 3-4 years before the storage gave up in a spectacular harddisk crasch taking down both private and comercial customers mailboxes.
In the end I think they managed to restore about 60% of the mailboxes by sending it to a harddisk recovery company.
Unethical as fuck. If someone does that, then they deserve nothing good out of the company.
It is, but it was not unheard of during the 70's-90's when the number of techs wasn't as large as it is today. And some of the techs of the old days considered themselfes gods and was really entitled.
That's definitely true.
At the same time, there was no union they could join to prevent employers from holding all the power and screwing them over. 65 hr work weeks. Overnight rollouts and all-hours on-call support for traveling users, and then "where were you at 8 am? You can't be 12 minutes late."
F' that.
--
There's still no union. And look what millenials now think is normal.
I'd happily take the occasional power-tripping sysop over what we have now.
Yeah that sounds like sth you could go to jail for
[removed]
Sounds illegal. Like ransomware.
Idk, that sound illegal to me.
Where I work, the network, its password / credentials, everything related to work belongs to the company and you can't keep things hostage.
I can see someone pulling this off in a small and clueless company, hit would never fly anywhere else.
I haven't worked in a place that had a bus factor = 1 in almost 10 years. There's always contingency plans and always backups and substitutes. Then again, I work in trading floor in banks.
Just because you have the login doesn’t mean anyone else knows how it works. Sure you can hire someone else but how much downtime does the company suffer until they figure out how everything works.
Yes, of course, that's the bus factor of 1 I was referring to. I replied to the post that said no one knew the creds to log in, though
Translators note:
"Bus factor": If X is annihilated by a bus, what person knows what they know? How would we continue to operate?
Banks have probably learned that lesson a couple of times (and also what it costs in terms of money, time, and reputation) in their own history. Small places, not so much.
Unless there is some contractual statement that the credentials need to be recorded somewhere that the boss has access to, what are they going to do? Try suing him.
You can't put every reasonably tiny things like these into contracts. Typically, you get given a login but you share portfolios and accounts with other workers, they they access with their own logins. If you go, someone else will pick up your clients and portfolios.
Of course, smaller companies might have trouble implementing it
I mean that’s exactly what I’m talking about, just replace boss with coworkers.
Doug has lost some kind of legal trouble.
Could just be that the system went down after he was gone.
Where I work, the network, its password / credentials, everything related to work belongs to the company and you can't keep things hostage.
"I don't recall my login information." - Can't prove you didn't forget it.
Even if he didn't forget, its not his obligation to enlighten them if he remembers. Its not illegal to not share a password after you've been fired.
Moreso, it can be illegal to give that information to the company after you've been fired. This is a friend of a friend story, but guy got fired. He had the only password to an important system. They asked him for it and, not being a dick, he gave it to them. They then filed computer crime charges against him as he was in possession of company passwords after he'd been fired. The law was technically on their side.
Yeah "I just had it auto saved, and you asked me to wipe my account" shrug
I know about 5% of my passwords due to google chrome. I just use the autogenerated and have it save the password.
The politician's method.
you can't keep things hostage.
If this is the US at least, I cant imagine a circumstance where he would be legally obligated to open his mouth give them the credentials. They should know it already and if they don't he is not obligated to enlighten them.
Dead man’s switch isn’t illegal. It should be though.
Bruh 😂 😂
ahahahahahha this kinda rocks.
Reminds me of this dude in my neighborhood. He was in a sales position in his 50s.
BUT the privately owned family business offered him an "early retirement" deal, where he would "phase out" over 5 years. He agreed to work part-time for those years and then take early retirement.
They signed this as a contract, with steep fees for breaking the contract.
The company then sold to an investment firm and they got these fresh-faced "adjusters" from the new mother company.
People were being let go left, right, and center, but my neighbor just sat there because he knew that his contract guaranteed him another 3 years of part-time work.
Then some youngster comes in and starts talking about "enjoying the last best years of your life" and "new opportunities elsewhere" and my dude still just sat there and smiled.
The young guy hands him his notice - he's being let go.
My guy just takes the letter, reads it, and puts it into his briefcase and locks it.
Smiles.
Tells the guy to check with accounting.
Young dude goes pale, leaves, and comes running back 20 minutes later. "Can I have that letter back, please?".
Still smiling, my neighbor just goes "no, you'll be hearing from my lawyer. And by the way, don't fret. You might have breached the contract, but this may open nEw PoSiBiLiTiEs for you."
Leaves, hands everything over to his lawyer.
That year, he completely re-did his roof and remodelled the house for his son and the grandkids.
He was still smiling and just shrugging when people asked him how he could afford that.
This story is gold it deserves its own post
Great job of CYA!
I would add, the information will be forthcoming once the check clears. But keep a list of clients.
And never send that info. Fuck em.
I had an non-compete or I would have!
some non-competes are unenforceable. They can put anything they want in a contract, doesn't mean a judge has to uphold it.
This is true but taking client information to a new company could very easily be enforceable. They can't force you into a new line of work but you can't take their data
And trying to enforce a non-compete on somebody you fired isn't likely to go anywhere.
The non-compete is to protect them if you quit.
You had a non compete with the old company not the new and as they are willing to change terms seems they wouldn't mind that being changed
Depending on the state, non-competes are unenforceable as a matter of law, except in specific circumstances.
Non competes aren’t enforceable when they fire you.
I think most non-competes are for when you quit your job, they fired you so I don't think it applies.
My neighbor worked for a company for ten or more years. A few years ago they let him go (layoffs due to things he had no control over). He's been in this industry with various companies since he got out of high school. Well, he decides to open up his own business doing the same thing.
His former company sues him, saying he can't work in this industry any more unless he's working for them, and they're not hiring. Judge says they can do it, but can only prevent him from having his business in the same area that the former company's local office was.
It's stupid, but my neighbor can't do anything about it. ...except open an office in a neighboring town. Really, it's just a PO Box, but that's where his business is officially incorporated.
Former company has lost a great deal of business because my neighbor's clients shifted over to my neighbor. He's a great guy. While he was on vacation this past summer, my mom went into the hospital for heart problems. We kept my neighbor and his wife in the loop. After they got back, they proceeded to make several meals for us.
Seriously, they're the best neighbors we've ever had.
Non-compete after they fire you? Doubt that would hold any weight.
Was waiting for the ending of “grabbed the cheque and said ‘what credentials?’”
[removed]
Oh damn, that would have been the sweetest ending!
Grabbed the cheque, advised they'd be back in touch once it cleared.
What credentials I don’t work here
Yeah I'd have just took the money and tell them that you're unable to give them the credentials because you don't work for them anymore.
"That's confidential information; it would be illegal for me to have that!"
Deposit the check first :)
Shouldn't have forced their hand but instead went to the labor department. Standard policy for recovering wage theft payments is double the initial amount.
I have a love for paragraphs and a fetish for being denied, keep it up.
I don’t kink shame.
Should have got your check and not given them the credentials because you don’t work there anymore. Fuck them.
Question, had the OP simply picked up the commission check, which he was legally owed, and didn't provide the login information, could the company do anything.
Depending on the contract and location he could be sued for disrupting operations.
There have been some high profile cases where former sysadmins have refused to give up credentials. One case lead to several years in prison..
As satisfying as it is watching them burn, holding creds "hostage" for a claim of unpaid commission is incredibly risky.. They could argue extortion easily enough and if you have a shitty local DA it can take years to clear that..
It also makes you entirely unhireable in the industry!
(but by God fuck those shitty companies.. Just be mindful of your own liability!)
"those were on the laptop you wiped...I told HR that" ... "you wiped the backup drives I gave you too?"
True story from a friend. (Thankfully he recorded the exit meeting with HR.) And it's not like we're going to remember a private key. At least you usually have other options for local machines. But often "giving the creds" simply isn't possible since...we don't know them.
Yep, documenting having tried to hand over everything is a must.
Possibly because of the nature of the agreement. However MC on what information to provide could mean consult fees!
Mate you should've just taken the check and left
Like 80% of this sub, it's just "work stories."
I feel like you missed out on a ton of other opportunities here..
They were not a place I could have gotten away with much more. They were very “proud”.
Wait it out and have them still on the hook. Prove you reached out for proper payment, and were denied. Then just go to court over it. You would easily win that amount, plus a ton more for their shitty behavior that they thought hey could get away with.
Should still have not given them the credentials. They were happy to fuck you over when they thought it served them. If anything you should have offered your "consulting services" for the low low price of 10x what they owed you in commission.
You should’ve kept the check and left.
Or sold it to them.
You left money on the table.
It was tempting to say the least, but I am sure they could have figured it out eventually.
Could have, which would have cost them money in the meantime until they did
Should have charged them a sky high consulting fee on top of the commission.
You should have also asked for a consulting fee equal to your entire salary since you were no longer working for them but had to come back and consult on how to get back into their old system.
I made some paragraphs for you, but I think this is more petty revenge than MC.
--
I had worked at a small end rural internet company for nearly 6 years. It was family owned and they paid us all really well for the work that we did. Barely anyone ever left the company. In my position, I was head of sales and I controlled all software that was associated to clients. This had everything in it including billing addresses, service addresses and leads for new clients. It was an outdated program for sure, but it got the job done and it worked for us.
Fast forward time and we are still doing our regular jobs when there was an unscheduled meeting thrown at us. We walked in and there were several new faces sitting on the other end of the table. They announced that they had sold the company to XYZ. XYZ seemed like an okay place to continue working because they too were local and the team seemed nice. I was told everything is business as usual and to not do anything different.
The transition took place and ever so often, someone from the new company would come to me and ask how we would do things and get a feel for it. I could tell they were trying to weed us out so I went balls to the wall with renewals on old accounts.
They announced to me that I needed to go to the HR department around closing time. Having anticipated this, I saved all of my commission files and emailed them to myself. I went to the office and they laid me off on the spot because they do not pay commission to their staff. I said okay and that I plan on them still paying me commission for the time I was there as they had not discussed anything pay related with me yet. She said again we do not pay commission. I emailed my commission statement to the manager I was working with and basically was told the same thing.
Fast forward to the next week when they realized they no longer had the credentials to get into our system and they called to ask for the information. I let them know that I would be happy to do that when I come up there to get my check for commission. I did not hear anything the next day and then I get a call that my commission check is in the office. I went up there, grabbed the biggest commission check I had ever made and gave them the credentials. Never tell someone business as usual when you do not intent on things being business as usual.
I'm just thankful that you had the leverage, because that is messed up. I hope you got a better job with someone else who cares about their employees. This story would have been pretty bittersweet if all of that had included a long lawsuit with all those legal fees cutting into your check.
My company changed time card systems. Apparently my boss did some funky accounting with my sick time, because we both knew I'd used every bit of it and then some, but upon switch over I got paid out almost all of my sick time.
I reported it to my boss, his boss, and the time card people....no one could fix the error, so free money. Thanks boss!
I worked with gov customers until they awarded a new contract to a different company. Nine times out of ten the new company picks through the incumbent staff and keeps those who the customer depends on for specific tasks, or the star performers, etc just because it is easier to transition staff (sometimes ALL the staff) to a new contract than bring completely new staff into gov facilities.
Well this new company went scorched earth and got rid of EVERYBODY. I was on a small part of the non-IT part of the contract and had already lined up another job but MOST of the contract was the IT HELP DESK. Bonus! All the trouble ticketing and remote ops software belonged to OUR OLD company so it went too.
I know from starting my new position (just up two floors in a different division in the same building) that there was NO HELP DESK for almost TWO MONTHS because there was no staff left to answer the phones or resolve issues. Network ops seriously sucked too because the operating software was disabled and uninstalled.
In the end, they did hire back about 20 people of the 145 they let go. Many of their own employees they planned to staff didnt have the required skills and many couldnt pass the background check to get building access. Dont even get me started on all the billable hours they missed out on while there were no employees on staff.
Press enter twice
to make a new line. Add 2 spaces to the end and press enter once
to make a smaller new line.
Simply put, Employer realized they couldn’t get away with their shenanigans (legal term). OP’s shenanigans just expedited that realization.
OP only brandished their shenanigans weapon as a defense once Employer brandished theirs. I’ll allow it. :)
I would have taken the check then given the wrong credentials. Oops... I thought that was right...
i would sue for a big fat severance package
with the commission of course
Just as an FYI, keeping company credentials hostage is a crime.
Several sysadmins have made the news and gone to jail for similar.
My suggestion, and it's probably still illegal, but harder prove:
'Forget' the logins the moment you walk out the door. But once you're paid, maybe remember that you wrote it down and secured it in locked cabinet A, just in case you ever forgot them.
I'd have told the to stick it up their arse and let the business go to shit.
Whenever you hear “don’t worry it’s business as usual or things are to stay the same” you know that the shits going to hit the fan soon. Guy I worked with had a similar thing happen to him, he was IT and dropped in it, he stayed late one night and changed every password there was, no one could get into the system or client accounts, nothing. He also had a big cheque.
If i had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a company takeover where “nothing will change” and then continue to absolutely fuck everyone over...
This exactly.
I wouldn't have given them the actual credentials but a wrong set. They were legally obligated to pay you, you were under no obligation to produce company information out of your head on demand after separation from the company.
Should have told them that no further business will be conducted without payment of previous commissions.
After that they can hire you as an consultant at $350 an hour to help with any issues
Or, novel idea the OP sold renewals to people with old accounts.
Yup
Otelco?
As a sales guy that has been burned by shit like this before, I salute you.
Happens far too often unfortunately.
Thankfully my last couple have been wonderful. I worked my full notice, got paid what I was owed, the last one even gave me some bonuses that they technically didn't have to pay me as they were more discretionary spiffs.
Early on in my career though? It was fucking cutthroat and often times miserable just to get paid what I was supposed to before I was even considering quitting.
Eventually I think you just kinda know what the signs are for places you don't want to work.
They tell you it’s business as usual so they don’t have everyone quitting at once. They want to lay people off on their schedule.
We are dealing with this right now. People are hanging onto hope and I'm telling them to find a job ASAP because they are about to be fired.
U are smart😊😊
[removed]
Years ago…i started with a new company, received my first pay (direct deposit), it’s $5977 …… for two weeks. When I informed them of this, the one partner yelled, “that’s what I get paid”. I was told my whopping salary of $35,000 a year was entered as monthly. That sucked.
😎😎 great move op 👍👍👍
Stab in the dark, MLI?
[removed]
What were the consequences for them if you told them to kick rocks?
sounds like a family owned northern nj cable company that got bought recently by the same entity that bought the one i worked for. which said nothing would change then cut out unused sick/personal payout, 3 paid sick days, and a paid holiday. then immediately started buying out and laying off the higher salaries, and making work hell for the remaining staff
And it should had commission (for the work you already did) and a hefty consulting fee (for coming in).
I worked for two different companies that were sold...the changes always start 6 months to a year...and its always nohi g but assurances that no drastic changes will take place.
so I went balls to the wall with renewals on old accounts.
So part of your revenge on a shitty company was locking a bunch of people into new contracts with them?
Yaaaas!!!
Lol. I'm happy you played them. Muhahahahaha.
For me, I left the company (resigned on a Friday, lol to purposely ruin everyone's Valentine's Day plans) and I didn't teach one soul how to do my job. An Evil lady there kept saying I was replaceable and she could dO mY jOb.
So I though "Lol, okay. Let's see how you do" she quit 3 weeks after me 🤣🤣🤣
She didn't know how and couldn't take the responsibilities 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm happy you got your money and made them seem like fools. Hahaha I'm so happy for you. Yaaaas.
I love how employers try to make this so much more complex than it is.
I have a contract. I do the work. I get paid according to the contract.
This one is open and shut. Give your employment contract to a lawyer and have them send a letter to the company. Only an absolute fool would not write you a check immediately. Pay the lawyer $500 and you are done.
But....why did you still give them the credentials? That was not satisfying at all.
How much was the commission check
Enough for them to not be happy about.
They always say it’s business as usual when a company is sold… However in reality, they always only look at buying companies with the goal of improving profit, not retaining existing profit levels. This always means change, or NOT business as usual.
Some people end up making changes to make things work, but people can only change so much before the company decides to start changing the people.
Why do you hate paragraphs?
I suck.
Paragraphs my dude, makes things much easier to read:
I had worked at a small end rural internet company for nearly 6 years. It was family owned and they paid us all really well for the work that we did. Barely anyone ever left the company.
In my position, I was head of sales and I controlled all software that was associated to clients. This had everything in it including billing addresses, service addresses and leads for new clients. It was an outdated program for sure, but it got the job done and it worked for us.
Fast forward time and we are still doing our regular jobs when there was an unscheduled meeting thrown at us. We walked in and there were several new faces sitting on the other end of the table. They announced that they had sold the company to XYZ. XYZ seemed like an okay place to continue working because they too were local and the team seemed nice. I was told everything is business as usual and to not do anything different.
The transition took place and ever so often, someone from the new company would come to me and ask how we would do things and get a feel for it. I could tell they were trying to weed us out so I went balls to the wall with renewals on old accounts. They announced to me that I needed to go to the HR department around closing time. Having anticipated this, I saved all of my commission files and emailed them to myself.
I went to the office and they laid me off on the spot because they do not pay commission to their staff. I said okay and that I plan on them still paying me commission for the time I was there as they had not discussed anything pay related with me yet. She said again we do not pay commission. I emailed my commission statement to the manager I was working with and basically was told the same thing. Fast forward to the next week when they realized they no longer had the credentials to get into our system and they called to ask for the information.
I let them know that I would be happy to do that when I come up there to get my check for commission. I did not hear anything the next day and then I get a call that my commission check is in the office. I went up there, grabbed the biggest commission check I had ever made and gave them the credentials. Never tell someone business as usual when you do not intent on things being business as usual.
You need to use 2 returns on mobile my dude.
Paragraphs lol
Dude please paragraphs
Take the check. Explain to them that they have broken the employer-employee trust and that you will need to confirm that your earnings have cleared in your bank account before discussing your employment.
After you have your money, have a discussion about your compensation. At this point you are not negotiating for extra compensation. You are there to confirm that you will continue to be compensated as you were previously.
If they do not confirm your current compensation structure, then that is constructive dismissal. At that point you inform them that you will not continue to work for an employer who has unilaterally cut pay. You quit. You are no longer employed by them. And then you walk out the door.
Never piss off IT, good MC as a fellow IT guy.
Should have wiped the system before you left IMO