Features Overview
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
Release the shame and misery as much as you can. Everyone loses a seat at the Musical Chairs game eventually. It may happen when the new manager arrives and suddenly a “reorg” occurs that is just you. Or maybe you or an immediate family member were going through a health issue that changed things, and the employer didn't want to be bothered to accommodate you. Maybe you complained about a company practice you thought was illegal. Maybe you exercised your political speech outside of work. You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what you did wrong, but very often —- it wasn’t you.
If you are truly depressed, seek the aid of a psychologist or medical professional to get you through this situational circumstance.
Get your unemployment benefits going while you gear up to find your New Opportunity.
each day matters - write it all down now while you remember
Write it all down while it’s fresh. Look at your calendar and texts. What is your timeline (or chronology) leading up to termination. Go back several months and write down everything that happened.
Identify witnesses. Who knew what and when they knew it about the real reasons underlying your termination.
Get it all out of your system - write down the whole story. Then rewrite it. Whittle it down so it’s coherent (this will take several edits). Then use that as your starter document to provie for attorney consults.
DO NOT SEND YOUR WRITEUP TO YOUR EMPLOYER. DO NOT SEND IT TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. DO NOT POST IT ON FACEBOOK. I know you want to. You want everyone to know what they did. But Be Smart. Instead, now interview several attorneys and let them know what happened to you.
Keep a journal of your feelings and distress, doctors visits, and medications, mileage and expenses. It will be therapeutic to write it all down. It will invaluable if you do litigate.
Attorney Interview Notes: Do not keep your attorney interview notes or any attorney conversation notes in your journal. At some point you will use your journal as evidence. No privileged conversations should be in those pages.
time for NEW PLANS.
It’s a new day. You need to begin again. Find someone to help deal with what happened (Old Business), and start thinking about what you will do now that you have all possibilities ahead of you (New Business).
To Find the Right Attorney - Interview Many. Begin with the attorneys listed on CELA.org who only represent employees. They aren’t spending their day doing 10 different types of law. The bulk of their practice is just representing employees. CELA members know the intricacies of employment law which adds value to your case.
If you ask 30 attorneys for a plan for your case, you will get 30 different answers. Find someone who resonates with you. If you do pursue litigation, you want to be aligned with someone you like and respect. Maybe litigation is not necessary. Evaluate your options.
Get someone to help you write an appealing resume. That one you used 10 years ago, needs to be overhauled. Styles of resumes change every few years. You are qualified to do more than the job you had. What do you want to do now? Find or create your dream job.
Go out on interviews on jobs you don’t even want. You need to practice your interviewing skills. So exercise that muscle on the crappier of the jobs when you get an opportunity. Then you will actually have some game when you find a job that really suits you.
Keep track of all jobs you apply for because if you do have a lawsuit, you must prove mitigation. Mitigation is where you attempt to find comparable work. You don’t sit home on the couch eating bonbons, waiting for Lotto or your trial outcome as your retirement solution. It’s tough to get a job, so you are going to have to get a lot of applications out there to hit gold.