Please help. - See inside -

[DellSupport]

I'm posting under a different user profile and from home tonight, as I'm pretty sure my employer has records of all of my posts here. Let me tell you all right now that I am just under painful stress right now from Dell. It's gotten so bad I'm having trouble sleeping, having awful indegestion problems, and my neck & shoulders are screaming in pain I'm so tense.

Dell Looking at Layoffs

However, Dell does not appear to have the guts to actually lay anyone off. Instead, they appear to be manufacturing reasons to fire people to avoid the bad press of layoffs and avoid paying severence packages.

Week ago guy got canned for visiting AmIhotornot.com... claiming it was voyeurist / porn
3 days ago... another one for visiting state lotto commmission site on Thursday mornings to check lotto #'s... violation of company policy against gambling sites.
Today... guy in the cube next to me.... still haven't found out why yet. But his computer has been confiscated already. They normally take weeks to get them if someone quits. Quick pickups indicate a computer-related no-no they are getting canned for.

People are being fired at a rate I have never seen in three years of being here.

The way that Dell has their internet use policy written, if they choose to, anyone can be fired for some violation. (At worst case for visiting any site that is not specifically work related.) Knowing that I can be canned any day is making my life hell. Fiscal year and quarterly bonuses are received first week of March... they may do more cutting to avoid those payouts. Much less, I'm personally a target having requested tuition reimbursement for this semester. Firing me will relieve them of having to pay $1200 in added costs for tution reimbursement.

Anyone have ideas on what the legal ground is for this? If I can find some way to prove that people are being fired to deny them unemployment / severence / bonuses is there anything that can be done legally?

And of course, if anyone is looking for a good tech in the Austin, TX area... I'd love to hear from you.

 

[bolomite]

How terrible and cowardly of Dell.

 

[Czar]

Thats horrible, not letting my company buy dell machines for a year because of this. :|

 

[Anarchos]

Ah yes, I've heard about all of the URL censoring and tracking they do at Dell.

 

[Stallion]

Sorry to hear that. It sucks when companys do crap like that to save a buck. Around here if you get caught looking at questionable stuff they will give you a day off the first time. Then they will take appropriate action the second time it happens.

 

[Cpt. Duke]

Michael Dell is suck!

 

[Cheapster]

How lame! Dell is on my sh*t list now. The only thing you can do is go to work and stay off the net for any personal reasons. You've got a puter at the house, wait until you get home. In the meantime, look at the papers and post your resume on the net. You might find something better, after you take the tuition money and bonus

 

[3615buck]

You use another name and post from home, but you say "Today... guy in the cube next to me...." so if they see this thread, they know who you are... Just hoping they don't dwell on Anandtech.

 

[Czar]

seems to me that they are firing so many that a guy next to me could mean anyone there.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Sounds very stressful all right... can you move outside TX or does family hold you there?

 

[xyyz]

What state do you work in?

I know if it's in California, they need a damn good reason to fire you... you have to be doing something where you are knowingly hurting the company. I have the case someplace... I can get it for you if you want.

If you do get fired for unjustified reasons... it's a bitch and a half for them if you pursue the matter... you can get a decent attorney and try to get them for wrongful termination.

Another thing... if you get fired... you are entitled to some nifty retraining... and Dell will be forced to pay for some of it. The training might even cover your tuition. I know of people here who have taken training that ran about $20,000.

You won't get too much unemployment, but it should be enough to cover some expenses.

I know of someone who was terminated from their job because they had a pair of headphones on... no warning was given... the judge decided that the person wasn't doing anything to harm the company purposely and that the firing was unfair (eventhough the person was in their probitionary period). Now the guy is getting retrained and getting unemployment benifits and it's totally screwing the former employer over because he has to pay for some of it.

What better kick in the ass to an unfair company than to pay for your tuition or advanced training...

 

[DellSupport]

xyyz, I work in Texas... which in this case puts me in the bad spot. Texas is a right to work state. From my understanding, pretty much I would have to prove Dell is up to something fishy in order to get any restitution.

yo ma-ma, bought my own place here in Austin, and have a wife going to grad school here. Gotta stay here in Austin for at least another year or two for both of us to finish classes.

Even if nothing directly comes from this, I appreciate you guys listening.

 

[LastKnight]

Georgia, where I work, is also a right to work state. What this means, in short terms, is that you're screwed. Your employer can fire you with no benefits ('cept cobra) whatsoever pretty much whenever they want. However, the benefit for you is it works both ways. You have nothing tying you to this company, and can leave for no reason. Unless you can show without a doubt that they discriminated against you, they can fire everyone. When things like this happen (our company's gotten rid of 20 of the total 80 ppl that once worked here) they are hoping to make people uncomfortable enough to quit so that they don't have to talk to their shareholders about a layoff. You might want to look at your employee handbook and see how your rights are described. Dell's bound to have one, I know we do (I just "forgot" to sign it...).

 

[jyrixx]

no more dell products here.. (not that i have any)

 

[ArkAoss]

jeeze, i feel bad, i've got 7 dell's in the room with me.
Be the better man than dell, make it so they can't fire you, be the best man there.
Or just get lookin, and be ready to jump right back up on your feet.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with big brother...

I should point out that Michael Dell was a big Bush supporter, can we expect more of the same from our new adminstration leadership??

good luck guy

 

[Dameon]

It's official.

http://www.austin360.com/statesman/editions/today/news_1.html

I find out tonight when I go in if I'm one of them...

 

[xyyz]

how is the job market in austin?

did you submit your resume?

 

[Czar]

wow.. 1700 people, hope you wont be one of them :/

 

[kranky]

Any update?

 

[MajesticMoose]

/me slaps his dell 4100 a few times

I would bet that this has something to do with the fact that dell failed to meet their profit predictions.

m00se

 

[cyclistca]

Well that just sucks. Welcome to the new economy. Not surprised though. The company where I work just had some major layoffs and we buy tons of Dells. I guess we wont be buying much this year. My department alone has several surplus machines after we had to get rid of all our contractors.

Good luck.

 

[Cheapster]

They mentioned the news of Dell's layoffs on the national evening news tonight. Here in SC it's a right to get fired for no d*mn reason state too.

 

[Dameon]

I'm still here, but my manager, and his manager are both gone.

It is going to suck around here for the next couple of weeks. Ugh.

 

[kranky]

Glad to hear you're still there, Dameon. That's good news.