Our company had a pretty terrible employee. He had more customer complaints than the rest of his team combined despite handling 30% fewer incidents. He had an attendance and punctuality problem. He was abrasive and had a short temper. No one that I interact with frequently liked working with him. He was on step 2.5 of the 3 step 'performance improvement' (aka: termination) process. He would file formal complaints for the smallest\oddest perceived slights. In less than a year he lodged at least 15 complaints to management and 3 to HR that I know of. The total number of complaints by the rest of the 350 staff: 0. This was one of his examples:
He, a supervisor of a different department and the supervisor's temp were working on a project. They were joking around. He said "Don't listen to the supervisor. He's dumb."
The supervisor responded "Dumb enough to get the supervisor position"
This resulted in a complaint sent to his manager and the supervisor's manager because the supervisor "called him poor" by making reference to "the class disparity between worker and supervisor"
So completely ignoring the discussion of the appropriateness of insulting someone's intelligence and undermining their authority with their temp the pay disparity is less than $10,000 a year...
So how did he game the system? We work with a lot of Universities and to maintain a 'Preferred Vendor' status we participate in the grievance reporting structure a lot of them require for in order to be preferred.
So since he was weeks away from being fired he found a job at a university and he thought it would be appropriate to mention that he felt he was being discriminated against (he is a minority) and might have to file grievances with the Universities we work with. Now his terribleness is well documented but would basically have to be proved to everyone else. He was already taking up a ton of HR, managerial and director time and this would tie up a lot of people for months (Universities do not move quickly) and could cause financial harm to the company.
This is, by far, the most inclusive and diverse employer I have ever worked and included a number of people of the same minority. (I mean we have a number of women working in IT). Its tough to explain on the internet but having seen who he is and being friends with other people of the same minority in the company (which includes his manager and none of who like him) I am positive he is confusing discrimination with results of poor workethic\personality. Despite this I won't call this blackmail as I have no doubt that he felt that he was entitled to something from the company.
Despite documentation that would have gotten him canned much faster at most companies he is leaving this week but getting benefits until the end of the year and 2 weeks of pay (despite working less than a year). This was negotiated down from 5 weeks of pay he wanted. More concerning to me is that I fear this validates his views and he is going back to school as a way to help further his 'fight against injustice' (his words)
So I get that it makes financial sense but it still grates on me that such a terrible employee expected and actually got those concessions. I don't believe in giving in like that but I am stubborn to a fault and it wasn't my decision to make anyway
TL: DR
-Employee was terrible and was offended by everything
-Employee was about to be fired
-Employee pulled and believed in the discrimination card
-Employee put in 2 weeks notice but still got severance package
TL: DR:TL: DR
-Shit sucks
He, a supervisor of a different department and the supervisor's temp were working on a project. They were joking around. He said "Don't listen to the supervisor. He's dumb."
The supervisor responded "Dumb enough to get the supervisor position"
This resulted in a complaint sent to his manager and the supervisor's manager because the supervisor "called him poor" by making reference to "the class disparity between worker and supervisor"
So completely ignoring the discussion of the appropriateness of insulting someone's intelligence and undermining their authority with their temp the pay disparity is less than $10,000 a year...
So how did he game the system? We work with a lot of Universities and to maintain a 'Preferred Vendor' status we participate in the grievance reporting structure a lot of them require for in order to be preferred.
So since he was weeks away from being fired he found a job at a university and he thought it would be appropriate to mention that he felt he was being discriminated against (he is a minority) and might have to file grievances with the Universities we work with. Now his terribleness is well documented but would basically have to be proved to everyone else. He was already taking up a ton of HR, managerial and director time and this would tie up a lot of people for months (Universities do not move quickly) and could cause financial harm to the company.
This is, by far, the most inclusive and diverse employer I have ever worked and included a number of people of the same minority. (I mean we have a number of women working in IT). Its tough to explain on the internet but having seen who he is and being friends with other people of the same minority in the company (which includes his manager and none of who like him) I am positive he is confusing discrimination with results of poor workethic\personality. Despite this I won't call this blackmail as I have no doubt that he felt that he was entitled to something from the company.
Despite documentation that would have gotten him canned much faster at most companies he is leaving this week but getting benefits until the end of the year and 2 weeks of pay (despite working less than a year). This was negotiated down from 5 weeks of pay he wanted. More concerning to me is that I fear this validates his views and he is going back to school as a way to help further his 'fight against injustice' (his words)
So I get that it makes financial sense but it still grates on me that such a terrible employee expected and actually got those concessions. I don't believe in giving in like that but I am stubborn to a fault and it wasn't my decision to make anyway
TL: DR
-Employee was terrible and was offended by everything
-Employee was about to be fired
-Employee pulled and believed in the discrimination card
-Employee put in 2 weeks notice but still got severance package
TL: DR:TL: DR
-Shit sucks
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