I’ve worked for this company for 3 years. In that time I’ve always completed my tasks and did tasks to help other departments. Though it was outside of my job description, I didn’t mind the experience and learning more about the company.
My job title was “sales/customer service” but in reality it was more taking my orders and everyone else’s orders in the company and processing/ordering material. I was also dragged into releasing projects which is breaking down lists of materials, counting all duplicate items per bid, find our sell price and cost then process it and purchase the material and make sure material shipped on time.
When I first started this company was roughly a 12-14 million dollar company, compared to this year it’s worth is about 20 million dollars. In that time we’ve added more people so in total the company had around 15-16 employees and I was the the main person to process and handle all the orders. From 3 years ago processing orders for myself and 2-3 other people was fine, but since then that increased to about 7 people.
So this year rolls around and it’s time for yearly reviews. I get my review and very year my performance increases and have never got into any trouble at work. I figure with the company growing, and me doing way more than I should, I should ask for a raise. After debating and arguing why I deserve a higher salary than what they were offering, we came to an agreement. I was content with it and moved on.
A few days go by and I get called into the meeting room along with my manager. They told me they’re letting me go. It all happened really fast and when I asked why, looking back on it, they never gave me a defining reason other than I have too high expectations for pay (which compared to the market I was still getting underpaid by about $10k). And then one owner said I was creating a toxic work environment and they don’t want my thinking to affect the other employees.
Side note on this: after my review apparently another person went in and basically asked for the same thing I was asking and saying. Which I had no part in what so ever.
Thankfully I have not signed any termination papers when I left but I’m curious if I have a chance to sue and win.
I know almost all states are “at-will” states so employers can fire you for whatever reason but I’ve done some research and found that it is still possible to sue.
I’m curious on everyone’s thoughts and how I should proceed next.
Edit: I guarantee I did not create a bad work environment with my coworkers. When I told them I was fired, they’ve been texting me and telling me it’s not over and they’ve all been giving the owners an earful.