Legal Question in Employment Law in Massachusetts
On 6/24 I was hired on at company X as the senior IT lead. I was brought on to replace the fianc�e of the Director of IT (my immediate supervisor) who had been working there as a contractor for the past year. The fianc�e had found other work so they needed a replacement for him. For the first 2 months things were going very well, I worked well with my team and the Director of IT was very effusive in her praise of me (I have a number of emails to back this up).
On 8/13 the Directors fianc�e was let go from his new position and all of a sudden we "needed" him again. He came back on in his capacity as a contractor on 8/16.
During the time between 6/24 and 8/16 I had found numerous gross instances of the fianc�es incompetence; the corporate firewall was terribly mis-configured, products were purchased that weren't needed, the network was very over-designed, etc...
The beginning of August was also the time that I started getting very unprofessional emails from the Director. She told me that I was not allowed to speak to her supervisor (the CEO), nor was I allowed to talk with the other managers in the company. Work that she had praised me for the month before was suddenly sub-par or insufficient. The Director of IT is NOT an IT person, but her criticisms of my work used words and terms that she didn't know during the day (i.e. her fianc�e wrote them).
On 9/6 I was brought into the Directors office for a meeting. During the meeting she indicated that the fianc�e was going to be with the company full time until the end of the year and she asked me if I had any concerns. It was at this time that I voiced my concerns about all of the previous items that I and the other members of the team had found.
On 9/10 the entire IT staff (including the fianc�e) had a closed door meeting. In it the Director stated that "all IT projects and any questions that you might have" would henceforth be handled by the fianc�e. She basically abdicated all authority as director of IT to her fianc�e.
On 9/13 the fianc�e submitted a project plan to upgrade a part of our environment. In the project plan he stated that it would take 5 days of work. My own experience with the product told me that it would take 1 day maximum and I asked in an email why he thought it would take 5 days. The Director of IT had previously told me that she wanted me to raise any concerns I had about the existing projects if I thought we were going in the wrong direction.
On 9/14 I was fired for insubordination and refusing to do work. I never once refused to do anything that either the Director or her fianc�e told me to do.
I know that MA is an at-will state, but I also know that there are exemptions to the rule so that people don't take advantage of it. Do I have a case against company X or the Director?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Based on what you wrote, I don't see a viable claim. It is a difficult situation when you work with your boss's fianc�. I would concentrate on doing the best job you can and avoid any uneeded criticism of the fianc�. If you two can't work well together, you're the one who will likely take the fall. Maybe another attorneywill see something I don't, but in my opinion you have no claim.
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