Severence promised then reneged...

[WorriedMom08]

Less than two weeks ago (December 9th) the employees in our contracted facility were brought into a facility-wide meeting and told that:
1) our facility had lost its contract with the state and that the contract was being appealed
2) the facility would be open until December 31st and we would have jobs until then (and also that the appeal was expected to last at least two months) (we also have reason to believe that they were aware of this since November)
3) we would be receiving one month's severence pay and any accrued PTO.

We were told yesterday (December 21st) that:
1) our last day would be December 23rd
2) we would be given a one week severence and accrued PTO
3) people that they (our company) could verify were going to another facility would be denied severence.

I understand that there was no written agreement, but the original compensation plan was offered verbally to all employees. We were encouraged not to look for other jobs due to the appeal process and maintaining staff in our facility until the appeal process was completed.

Do we have any legal rights due to their change in verbal commitment and the fact that they hindered us from further employment by deceiving us into thinking that we would be here at least until December 31st if not longer?


Thank you so much for any feedback!

 

[Patricia_Young]

How many people are affected?

Nothing was stopping you from starting to look for other work on Dec. 9.

And it's not necessarily "deception". Maybe they just decided that they couldn't afford to do what they originally planned to do.

I would note that neither federal nor Florida law requires payout of PTO at termination or otherwise, so they are already doing more than the law requires in that regard.

 

[cbg]

It is very, very common for employees who are granted employment at another facility (or with a new owner) to be denied severance. It is, in fact, so common that doing it any other way is quite remarkable.