TLDR: Worked my ass off and went out of my way to make sure to give my current employer 2 weeks notice. My boss knew I was leaving in advance due to a mix-up and knew I needed the two weeks pay for health reasons. He and HR lied to me, and then terminated me the second I gave my notice (to avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit).
This is a long story but I learned a lot from this and have to share it. It was such a shock to me that it's my only long-form post on reddit. The “Mistake” outlines are the key points and lessons learned, so for a longer TLDR go for those.
I posted this on another subreddit, but wanted to post it here too to share.
Let me tell you a tale of how I lost my naivety when it comes to thinking about corporations.
I work in software development. It's an office job at a massive S&P 500 corporation, but my employer pays in the bottom 10% for the work I do. I was okay with this for the first few years, it was a good company after all, decent perks, all that jazz. I thought the work I did mattered. But as I grew into my role I realized my labor was worth a lot more than I was being paid. Like, a stupid amount more. To make matters worse, I have a very expensive health condition. I usually make just enough to get by while managing it. But over the past few months extraneous expenses have been piling up and I slowly realized I couldn't afford to work here anymore. So I went looking and found a new job. A 50% raise after looking for a week. I was so freaking underpaid. 3 interviews and I accepted an offer the next week. Great, right? A few strings attached though. Due to the nature of the work, this offer was contingent on an extremely extensive background investigation. That's where things went wrong.
My past employment needed to be verified, and during the verification they mistakenly thought I was no longer at my current job. So my boss got a message asking for verification that I had worked there, and it revealed to him that I had accepted a conditional offer. He consulted with HR. I consulted with my new job. It seemed the consensus on both our ends was that if he acted on this information or treated me any differently the government would rain a shitstorm down on them and it would also be the basis of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Mistake number 1: I spoke frankly with my boss since we both knew I was going to leave my position. I told him why I was leaving, how I was in financial straits and couldn't afford to work here anymore. We both knew he couldn't terminate me because of the mix-up, but I really #Believed in the company and wanted it to succeed. To this end, I kept him up to date with the proceedings. Gave him some estimates for when I would be giving notice. Told him what things I was waiting on with the new employer, etc. This was fine for a week or so, but then he began pressuring me to give my notice. I should have given him 0 information until I was financially secure.
Mistake number 2: After the pressuring, my new employer told me to tell my boss to pound sand if he asked for any more information or pressured me again. They offered to send a threatening letter to him and my employer, but I rejected this, saying “No, no, there's no need for that, he's always been a decent guy. He's been flexible with my health condition, etc”. Past behavior is not an indicator of future behavior at a corporation. He was flexible before because I was an asset, and now that I was leaving things had changed. I should have had the new employer send the letters and shut my stupid mouth. The only thing corporations are afraid of is losing their money. I should have protected myself.
Some more time goes by. We talk about my remaining goals. What I should try to accomplish in the time I have left at the company. What I should do during my two weeks notice. What sort of documentation I should create during that time to help my successor, etc. We make a plan and things are going okay. More time goes by and at some point, everything was done and over with and I had a start date! Finally! But…… it was…. 3 days away. UGH. Not enough to give due notice to my current employer. I had to move it.
Mistake number 3: I told my new job I couldn't do this start date, as it wouldn't give me time to give my 2 weeks notice. My two weeks notice; you know, that thing from back in 1950 that everybody was expected to give. When instantaneous staffing wasn't a thing. When outsourcing work to half the world wasn't a thing. When workers had about the same rights as a coal miner's canary. When your old company's opinion of you might actually matter someday. They said, “but your employer knows you are leaving, does it really matter? It's going to be hard to change the date”. To which I, an outstanding employee, replied “It has to be changed. I owe it to them” I should have just started the job. It doesn't matter what your old employer thinks of you. I owed them NOTHING.
I fought for about 6 hours total in my personal time with 3 different people, moving the date around until I could get it two weeks in the future.
Mistake number 4: My boss told me at some point before this that as soon as I knew the date I'd be leaving I should send a formal resignation letter to him and HR with my last day in the letter. This made perfect sense to me: they'd need to know the last day I'd be working till, right? So once I knew the date I drafted up the letter and sent it. Finally, resolution! Everything worked out. I'd work my final two weeks and smoothly transition to the new job and start the day after. My coworkers would wish me success, it'd be bittersweet, but smiles all around. I learned a lot from them, and I hope they learned something from me. A formal resignation letter means you no longer have the option to sue for wrongful termination, since you left voluntarily. I was an idiot to send it.
Dizzying. It was dizzying how fast things went. Letter sent, HR meeting called, instant declination of my two weeks notice, a short talk where they smugly pointed out that there was nothing I could do. They had definitely planned this beforehand. They were coordinated and wanted me off call. They locked me out of the building and all electronic communication. They said they'd send a box in the mail for me to ship back any company supplies I had. Insurance canceled. This week's pay would not be sent, as it was recouped for spent sick time. No paycheck after that, cause, well, I don't work there anymore. All while my boss had full knowledge that I needed my next paycheck to stay afloat.
I didn't get to say goodbye to my coworkers. Didn't get to get any sort of closure. I sort of wish I could give my boss a piece of my mind, but I hope I never get the chance. There's nothing to be gained from that.
At the end of the day I wasted over a month trying to get the date pushed out, getting paid 50% less than I would have otherwise the whole time, and then another two weeks on top of that 0 pay. Thousands of dollars wasted on trying to “do the right thing”.
And I'm sitting there. Trying to think. Why did they do this. Was it spite? Because I was “disloyal” for seeking other employment? Do they get a metric boost, since they can find a replacement faster and reduce turnover time and make themselves look better? But it's pointless to dwell on it. I focus instead on what I learned.
My situation is not going to be like everyone else's. Sometimes it's going to be fine to give the two weeks. But I feel like these situations are the exception, not the rule. Because, remember: company decency is a thing of the past. Your boss does not care about you. Your company does not care about you. You are there to make them money. If there is ANY chance at all that giving 2 weeks notice will interfere with your life, remember, you owe them NOTHING. Protect yourself at all costs.
In my instance the worst that could happen to my company is that they might have lost a few bucks in their multi-billion dollar profits. The worst that could happen to me is I could DIE from losing insurance and losing my paycheck. What if the other job had fallen through? How did I not see this? I should have seen this because in the end I learned a lot of things I thought I already knew. Things repeated a million times on this sub and many others.
Jobs are for money. Your boss is not your friend. HR is not on your side. You are expendable to your company. They'd rather see you die than lose a cent.
It's all just words until it happens to you though. Please, don't let it happen to you. Until major change is achieved, give your employer the same level of honorability and courtesy it will give you.
None.