Hey there! Was laid off from Twitch / Amazon due to “no fault of my own” and a ”restructuring”. before getting laid off I had complained about discrimination from a male coworker (female anon) multiple times to HR and nothing happened. Have several screenshots of the situation and instances. HR of Amazon reached out to me after the layoff to “investigate”. They posted my role not too soon after , the same duties and all. After 2 months of “investigation”, this week they told me I wasn’t discriminated and it was due to me not performing and not being a “leader”. All of which was ridiculous as I was hired to manage and lead and all my performance reviews were “excellent”. I told them and they haven’t seen my evidence yet. Lawyers run $500/hr, should I hire one for negotiation? If anyone has any good recs for a situation like this... or thoughts from working in HR yourself. Many thanks in advance!
Get a contingency lawyer, if no one wants your case it means you don’t have one
Two top ones in the Bay said it sounded like a real case but both were already doing two trials. One said it could be possible but said for this it might make more financial sense if I negotiate during the severance discussion...
When they hear amazon it seems to bring up “oh they’re big and oh you have money.”
Lawyer up!
Move on first then hire a lawyer. I have multiple Dev openings in case you or someone is interested
Wow. My situation sounds eerily similar. There was a Director who loved to belittle me, treat me like dirt under his shoe.. and at the same time stare at my breasts. Reported it to HR, employee relations investigated and found no evidence. He progressively treated me worse and worse.. and was laid off. The dude even threatened me.
Are you both women??
UGG I’m so sorry that’s BS. Thanks for sharing ~ wtffff. Any teams @MS I should avoid? And Yes, female nerd here. Been in the game industry for 5+ years and it’s super sexist but usually I just find it funny as I’m a total tom boy. This time was horrific because it impacted my career and HR did nothing at all.
make sure you stay on top of your lawyer to ensure they are pushing for you hard. the other side’s lawyers are trained to bully people into getting what they want. you want someone strong who wont fall for that shit.
HR exists to protect the company, not employees. Never trust hr.
Make sure you lawyer is on contingency. Also, know that while bad behavior is wrong, it is oftentimes not illegal. While HR may be incompetent and mishandled your situation, it is oftentimes not illegal. Before you work yourself up too much, be sure to understand what is illegal (discrimination) versus what is just shitty, awful, yet legal behavior. For example, if a manager yells at you from across the table and you feel threatened, that is them being an asshole and not illegal. Sorry you are going through this. Good luck!
I had a similar experience at AMZN in October and I am waiting for them to “get back to me”. I’ve contacted a nationally known firm and we are looking to become a class action showing discrimination against women. I was an L7 and there two years. Contact me privately! I know there are so many more out there!!!
Lawyer up. See if there are ones that do pro Bono work.
Thanks! Contacted 5 and all were slammed. Need to find a contingency one as it could be a forever battle.