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Any help/info appreciated on case below.
Sequence of events -
I was laid off from position with large firm
I signed a severance agreement, which stated that my final paycheck would
include 401k contribution
I contested / appealed the package, asking for more, for cause
The company replied that they would review my appeal and get back to me,
after which I would have 2 weeks to respond
I asked them repeatedly over next 4+ weeks to hurry up, they didn't respond
My EON (last official day of employment) passed
They came back and said no to the additional compensation
I signed the agreement
I received a payout, including a 401k contribution and $5000 company match
Some time later they sent me a check for my 401 contribution, stating that
my EON
date had passed and the 401 plan does not allow contributions post-EON date.
The company match disappeared.
So, the severance plan and 401k plan are not in agreement
I asked them to pay me cash to cover the tax on my contribution and for the
$5K
matching, they said no
I asked them to mediate, again no
Their theory is that I appealed the package and therefore I caused the
missed EON date
The severance package is under ERISA. The company threatens to sue me for
court costs,
fees, etc. if I sue and says that I must exhaust a painstaking series of
appeals before I have
right to action.
I think in terms of policies and procedures the company has their arses
pretty well covered,
but in terms of basic fairness my case is strong. Question is what are odds
of prevailing in
court.
-jbecks
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Jim Becks wrote:
[dispute on compensation upon employment severance]
The severance package is under ERISA. The company threatens to sue me for
court costs,
fees, etc. if I sue and says that I must exhaust a painstaking series of
appeals before I have
right to action.
I think in terms of policies and procedures the company has their arses
pretty well covered,
but in terms of basic fairness my case is strong. Question is what are odds
of prevailing in
court.
Very little unless you go through the contractual or statutory appeals
process. Very probably your case won't be heard or dismissed out of hand
until those procedures have been exhausted.
The reason for those procedures is to avoid court congestion. So the
courts would be working against their own interest if they were to
bypass these steps by allowing the case to be heard.
Courts vary enormously as to their propensity to award costs to
defendants but your chances of being dinged by such a court decision is
much greater if you file a case before the appeals process is finished.
Also courts should award nothing based on a plaintiff's idea of justice
or basic fairness. Instead, they are courts of law and law only. Your
feeling of injustice hasn't any weight at all to a court (or it
shouldn't anyway).
-paul
ianal
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Paul Cassel wrote:
Also courts should award nothing based on a plaintiff's idea of justice=
=20
or basic fairness. Instead, they are courts of law and law only. Your=20
feeling of injustice hasn't any weight at all to a court (or it=20
shouldn't anyway).
Aren't they also courts of equity? (IIUC, ideas like estoppel and=20
detrimental reliance, which might come in here, are principles of=20
equity, not law.)
For instance, in the news yesterday,
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) =97 The mother of a
7-year-old boy whose mummified remains
were found in the basement of an
apartment will not receive a million-
dollar payout from the state, an
appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Melinda Williams has no right to
inherit the money from Faheem
Williams because she abused and
neglected him and his two brothers,
the Appellate Division of the Superior
Court of New Jersey found in a 3-0
decision that upheld a lower court ruling.
...
"How cruel, ironic, and inequitable it
would be to hold that M.W. retained the
right to inherit $1 million from the
child she burned, abused, neglected,
and abandoned," Appellate Judge Donald
G. Collester wrote for the court. "Equity,
morality, and common sense dictate that
physically or sexually abusive parents
have no right of inheritance ..."
--=20
- David Chesler <chesler@post.harvard.edu>
Free Cory Maye
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