pmarquez
02-15-2008, 06:07 PM
This is in part to see if there can be possible legal recourse on behalf of myself and another employee at my company.
Q. A month ago at an All Hands company meeting, an employee who has been at the company for about 4 years and known to ask many questions at these meetings (sometimes annoyingly so). Well - she asked questions as usual pertaining to the topic the CEO was discussing, but then asked an odd question: "What would the company do if an employee became violent". Now this question seemed misplaced and a tad inappropriate but not something that would raise any red flags. Well this apparently became an issue for the CEO whom was newly hired a year ago and is a very business savvy hard as nails person. Well she demanded the employee be reprimanded. The manager of this employee had a sit-down and spoke with this employee something like unofficial verbal warning. So all seemed to be fine until when the direct Manager found out unknown to her that the employee was on probation. Neither the direct manager nor the employee was told about any probation, no written letter nothing? This employee has been a top performer in her Dept. but maybe lacks a little finesse when asking questions. Now evaluation time arrives and the employee receives a favorable evaluation. The CEO sees all evaluations and wants the employee to receive no merit raise or bonus. This seems somewhat over the top (Why continue punishing?).
Now to me: I'm a Supervisor at the company for over 8yrs. Tough year for my group they make the least in the entire company. Human Resources called a meeting with the CEO via conference call about the evaluations. We adopted a new format for calculating performance. But apparently to her a few managers and supervisors did them wrong. We were told to ask questions and I told the CEO part of my evaluation process included a tough year and my group was from 9 people to 4 but that we still maintained a high level of performance. Well- apparently this seemed to bother her as well and told me in an very intimidating tone that I probably didn't need 9 people in the first place and that I didn't do my job well when I had 9 people since we were able to make do with 4 people. I was shocked at the remark and the room was in total silence. I merely said we worked harder and longer to make due and kept silent, but I was very embarrassed. I'm known to be one of the nicest and hardworking... It really hurt my feelings sad to say but how can a CEO get away with acting this way to Subordinates? HR is scared of her BTW.
Any legal or helpful suggestions?
Q. A month ago at an All Hands company meeting, an employee who has been at the company for about 4 years and known to ask many questions at these meetings (sometimes annoyingly so). Well - she asked questions as usual pertaining to the topic the CEO was discussing, but then asked an odd question: "What would the company do if an employee became violent". Now this question seemed misplaced and a tad inappropriate but not something that would raise any red flags. Well this apparently became an issue for the CEO whom was newly hired a year ago and is a very business savvy hard as nails person. Well she demanded the employee be reprimanded. The manager of this employee had a sit-down and spoke with this employee something like unofficial verbal warning. So all seemed to be fine until when the direct Manager found out unknown to her that the employee was on probation. Neither the direct manager nor the employee was told about any probation, no written letter nothing? This employee has been a top performer in her Dept. but maybe lacks a little finesse when asking questions. Now evaluation time arrives and the employee receives a favorable evaluation. The CEO sees all evaluations and wants the employee to receive no merit raise or bonus. This seems somewhat over the top (Why continue punishing?).
Now to me: I'm a Supervisor at the company for over 8yrs. Tough year for my group they make the least in the entire company. Human Resources called a meeting with the CEO via conference call about the evaluations. We adopted a new format for calculating performance. But apparently to her a few managers and supervisors did them wrong. We were told to ask questions and I told the CEO part of my evaluation process included a tough year and my group was from 9 people to 4 but that we still maintained a high level of performance. Well- apparently this seemed to bother her as well and told me in an very intimidating tone that I probably didn't need 9 people in the first place and that I didn't do my job well when I had 9 people since we were able to make do with 4 people. I was shocked at the remark and the room was in total silence. I merely said we worked harder and longer to make due and kept silent, but I was very embarrassed. I'm known to be one of the nicest and hardworking... It really hurt my feelings sad to say but how can a CEO get away with acting this way to Subordinates? HR is scared of her BTW.
Any legal or helpful suggestions?
