Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Constructive Discharge/Discrimination

I'm a 43 year old woman. I was recently removed from position as regional operations manager and placed in a sales position that I neither asked for nor would apply for under any circumstances. I have many years of experience in the management role and have always received high marks on my performance reviews.

The company gave the excuse that they were restructuring. Three months later they replaced me with a man with no experience. They are also in the process of setting sales expectations that will be impossible to for me to meet in the current economy and will have the effect of reducing my pay by 20%.

I believe they are trying to centralize and close all remote offices and that they are trying to find a way to fire me and many others without paying our severance or laying us off. If they laid us off they would not be able to re-hire the position for 6 months.

Do I have any recourse?


Asked on 4/01/09, 12:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alan Wagner Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore P.A.

Re: Constructive Discharge/Discrimination

It does not sound like it. If you have a contract you may have certain rights in that document, but generally, the company can move you from one position to another. Your post does raise a sex issue, but if they are really trying to restructure and downsize, that will likely fade. At 43 I don't see any age discrimination issues. I don't know where you get the idea that if you are laid off that they could not rehire anyone for 6 months. If that is some type of union contract issue, then you should contact your unioin rep for additional information. An employment attorney could give you some additional information and you may benefit from actually sitting down with a lawyer to go over all of the details of your prediciment.

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Answered on 4/02/09, 11:53 am


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