To All of Our Blog Readers, Friends, Clients and Colleagues:

It’s a New Year, and Therefore, a New Opportunity to Do All You Dream.

Our Best Wishes to You and Your Loved Ones for The Happiest and Healthiest of New Years.

Thank you so very sincerely for making 2011 – our fourth year of publication – successful beyond our best expectations. We more than doubled our readership.

May your 2012 be filled with the warmth of loved ones, the health we all sometimes take for granted, the joy of holding a newborn baby, the inner comfort of job security, and the wonder of a six-year-old about to open birthday presents.

All of Us at SkloverWorkingWisdom.com

Addison, Akeesha, Al, Andre, Brandon, Bree, Briana, Jaymie, Jonathan, Jeff, Justin, Phyl, Sam, Sandra, Sheree, Vanessa – and Bellvini, Devlyn, Russie and Scamp, the Dogs

© 2012 Alan L. Sklover. All Rights Reserved

“Thanks!!!”

Before the New Year comes and goes, I pause to say “Thanks” for all you did in 2011.

FIRST, of course, I give sincere thanks to Phyllis, Sheree, Vanessa, Sandra, Jeff, Brian and Jonathan, for all their help and support. SkloverWorkingWisdom would not exist without them.

AND, TOO, I thank each of our blog visitors, those who sent in questions, those who gave us feedback, those who helped support us by purchasing Model Letters, by viewing our YouTube videos, and who patronized our advertisers by clicking to them from our blogsite.

2011 was a year of great growth for us, by every metric. We hope each of you will continue to visit, take advantage of what we offer, and Grow With Us.

Truly Best Wishes to all for the Upcoming Year of 2012.

Al Sklover

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover. All Rights Reserved

Question: If a severance agreement was received and signed by the employee, but then not countersigned by the employer, is it binding on the employer?

O.K.
Point McKenzie, Alaska

Answer: Dear O.K.: Your question is of particular interest to me, because I ask myself that very same question perhaps once every week, when helping clients with severance matters.           

1. As a general “rule” of basic contract law, if an “offer” is presented, and then “accepted,” the “agreement” is binding on both sides. When we seek to understand legal matters, it’s often best to go back to “basics.” During the first week or so of “Contract Law” class in law school, we learn that “Offer plus Acceptance equals Binding Contract.” This is how most severance agreements are written: “To accept this offer, place your signature below and return it to me within 21 days of today’s date.” If your severance agreement has words to that effect, my “tentative” answer to your question is “Yes, both sides are bound after the employee signs the severance agreement and returns it to the employer – whether or not the employer signs it.”

2. However, before concluding that the basic rule applies, we must carefully review the agreement – every word of it – to see if it might say that the basic rule does not apply here. So, for example, your severance agreement might say something like “This agreement is not binding on either the employer or the employee unless both have placed their signatures on it.” The effect of such language in the agreement would be, in effect, “The basic rule does not apply here.” My experience is that no more than 5% to 10% of severance agreements have words like that in them.  

3. By not signing the severance agreement, your employer may be playing a cynical “game”; it goes this way: “I will consider it binding if to do so is good for me, but I won’t consider it binding if it turns out I don’t need to.” I have several times seen this happen. The employer tries to have it “both ways,” or at least whichever way is more convenient for him or her. To prevent that, you may need to send him or her an email that says, in effect, “You cannot have it both ways. Either we are both bound, or neither of us is bound. I need to hear – by email – within 48 hours which way it is. If I am not bound, then I don’t have to honor any of my promises in the agreement, including the release of claims in it.”

4. If the words of the severance agreement follow the “general rule,” then I suggest you send your former employer an email asking when the counter-signed agreement will be returned to you. Whenever we can, we like to get clarity in our relations with others. If your severance agreement seems to follow the “general rule,” and does not have any words in it that say otherwise, I suggest you send your employer an email that says, in effect, “We are both bound, because the agreement constituted an ‘offer,’ and my signature constituted the ‘acceptance.’ When can I expect to receive my severance payments?” That will probably help move things along toward clarity.                                                                

O.K., these things sure should be a lot easier than they often are. But – hey – then we would have so many lawyers out of work!! (Just kidding.) Unfortunately, “people will be people,” and we all have to find ways to work together. I hope this explains things for you, so that you can help yourself get clarity in this situation.

Thanks for writing in. I hope you will tell your friends that there is a place that is “there” for them when it comes to “standing up for yourself” at work.

Please remember: if you click to our advertisers, and use their services, they help us “keep the lights on” for this blog.               

Best,
Al Sklover

Repairing the World –
One Empowered and Productive Employee at a Time ™

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover, All Rights Reserved.

Question: I work for a publicly owned automotive dealership. When I was hired about two years ago, I was given my job duties. Later the same owners acquired a second auto dealership down the street and moved me there. I am now doing the accounting for both dealerships without any extra compensation.

My boss says, “Just be grateful you have a job.” What can I do?

Betty
Orlando, Florida

Answer: Dear Betty: I am hearing from so many people that they are in the same position you are in. Here are my thoughts.              

1. It is true that everyone who has a job should be grateful for that. I really can’t argue with anyone who says that every working person should be grateful that they have a job. “Counting your blessings” is an important daily activity for those who aspire to happy lives. I thank the Lord each day just for waking up to a new day. For me, having a job and earning a decent living to support my family is “icing on the cake.” However, that does not mean that you should be pleased to be overworked, underpaid, or otherwise treated poorly or unfairly.       

2. From your letter, I cannot tell if you are overworked and unable to get all of your day’s work done in one day. . . or if you simply resent doing more things than you used to do. I have been an employee, and I am an employer. I think I can see both “sides of the coin” pretty well. If you are unable to reasonably get your work done during the day, and find yourself working late every day and/or all night at home and on the weekends, then I think you have a problem on your hands. On the other hand, if you can reasonably perform the bookkeeping for both dealerships, without unusual stress or crazy hours, I do not share your view that you are being treated unfairly.

3. If you are being taken advantage of, that is, underpaid or overworked, I suggest you make a respectful “pitch” for a raise, or some other “reward.” In your circumstances, there is nothing better you can do than to “do your best” to get a raise in pay for your efforts, or some other “reward,” examples of which might include (i) more vacation, (ii) better healthcare, (iii) an increased 401k contribution, or (iv) perhaps even the right to work from home one day a week. Your ability to gain a raise, or some other “alternative reward” is dependent on whether your boss, or his or her boss, sees you as valuable enough to fear losing, especially to a competitor. To a great extent you cannot expect others to see your value; instead, you have to “advertise” and “promote” yourself a bit, something that many people don’t do, to their detriment.

I’ve written several articles and answered many questions on how to ask for a raise, or another “alternative reward,” that you can review by simply [clicking here.] You can also watch our free YouTube videos about negotiating with your boss by simply [clicking here.]

You can also obtain a Model Letter entitled “Memo Requesting Raise or Promotion” from the “Model Letter” section of our blogsite. 

4. Bottom line is this, Betty: If you are underappreciated, and your best efforts to undo that don’t work, you need to find an employer who will appreciate you, and pay you what you deserve. I hope that does not sound callous, or uncaring, because it is nothing less than simply true. It is surely hard to get any job these days, but for those who have good skills, good attitude, and can show those things to prospective employers, the chances of getting hired are surely improved. Sometimes I wish I could build a magic “fair button,” that would make things fair, but the honest truth is each of us has to do our best, each day, in every way, to make things fair for ourselves, and our loved ones . . . and even that doesn’t always work.

Hope these thoughts – and the other materials on our blogsite about getting a raise – are helpful to you. Thanks for writing in, and thanks, too, for watching our YouTube videos.  

P.S.: By clicking to our advertisers [including VistaPrint for printing, Expedia for travel, and GoDaddy for registering internet domain names], and using their services, you will be contributing to help support our blogsite. Give it a thought. Thanks!

Best,
Al Sklover

Repairing the World –
One Empowered and Productive Employee at a Time ™

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover, All Rights Reserved.

“It is life near the bone where it is sweetest.”

- Henry David Thoreau

At work, as elsewhere, we are today faced with unusual, perhaps unprecedented, insecurity. It is something like walking – or trying to walk – through a storm. And yet, so many successful people tell us that it is these very times – “life near the bone” – that are, in fact, the sweetest. Times of trouble, times of difficulty, and times of fear. You see, when the wind dies down, as it always eventually does, we marvel at our strength, we celebrate our stamina, and we luxuriate in the unique serenity that only having lived through “life near the bone” can give us.

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover. All Rights Reserved

Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanzaa,” which means “first fruits of the harvest.”

It is a celebration of family, community and culture of those of African descent worldwide, celebrated from December 26 through January 1 of each year.

We wish every member of our “blog family” who celebrates the Kwanzaa holiday nothing but happiness, joy and inspiration on this special holiday.

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover. All Rights Reserved

To All Our Readers, Friends and Colleagues, Regardless of Faith: Our Best Wishes to You and Your Family for a Very Merry Christmas

This holiday is one we have all come to identify with as a time of joy, a time of giving, a time of wonder, and a time of warmth.

Give generously this Christmas, especially of your time, attention, affection and support.

As you give, so shall you get.

All of Us at SkloverWorkingWisdom

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover All Rights Reserved. Commercial Use Prohibited.

Question: What is the risk for me, or for my employer, if when I return to my former employer, they give me back my former employee I.D. number?                                                               

Moutaz el Hassan
Khartoum-Sudan

Answer: Dear Moutaz: I see no risk to either the employee or to the employer if returning employees are given their former employer ID numbers. In fact, I believe it is far better to do just that.             

1. Clarity and simplicity are always in everyone’s interests. Over the many years, I have been called upon to assist many employees with problems that arose from simple errors in records, error of identity, errors of calculation, and the like. Though seemingly simple and mundane, these things do happen, often create much larger problems, and can be very difficult to resolve. Perhaps to a fault, I always recommend that clarity and simplicity are to be pursued whenever and wherever possible.       

2. I would expect that assigning returning employees their former ID numbers would result in fewer errors regarding income allocations, tax matters and benefits calculations. If such a simple thing as assigning the same ID number to an employee can prevent these kinds of problems, then I would fully support it. Perhaps that is why here, in the U.S., we usually see employers use an employee’s unique and permanent Social Security Number as an employee identifying number.

3. Though I don’t know Sudanese law, in assisting employees in other countries in Africa, I have not heard of any restriction on doing so. I have assisted employees in other African countries where labor laws are considerably different than they are in the U.S. However, I have never heard of any restriction on an employer or an employee using an employee I.D. previously issued to the same employee. 

Moutaz, though many people from Africa visit and read my blog, you are the first person from Sudan to send in a question for answering. Thank you for doing so. I hope you will tell other Sudanese of our blog, and how it can be helpful to them.     

Best,
Al Sklover

Repairing the World –
One Empowered and Productive Employee at a Time ™

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover, All Rights Reserved.

Note: From Arizona comes this good news that, once again, the simple, positive, and mindful way of participating in the employment relation – what we call “working wisdom” – is the best, and good for all concerned:

Mr. Sklover,

I just received a call from one of my company HR representatives and my boss’s boss about my PIP. I was officially informed that my PIP or Performance Improvement Plan has been rescinded and removed from my record. Before I give accolades to you, your website and the “Response to Receiving Performance Improvement Plan” that I purchased, I am giving so much thanks to my wife that found your site and believed in me so much that she devoted countless hours of research that found me the best possible information for me to prove the lack of validity of the PIP or Performance Improvement Plan that was given to me.

My first move while having already prepared the letter was to call a meeting of our area leaders to politely & verbally request that it be removed. I was told no at first but, was told that I would have an answer prior to noon the next day. When I received the email from our director that he was standing by my leader’s objective to implement the PIP I responded less than 5 minutes later with the dispute by email followed by a printed and signed copy. The very next day I was being retaliated against by my boss which became unbearable. I scheduled a meeting with someone higher up in the company and told them everything that had led to the PIP along with all of my documentation of my exceeded goals, emails and examples of my work. 4 days later I received a call saying that my Performance Improvement Plan had been rescinded and removed from my record.

I cannot thank you or my wife enough for this. It has cleared my good name and proven that this was something that was not necessary. I know that I am probably an exception to this type of action being brought on someone and rescinded but, all through this I remained calm, focused, professional and confident that I could win. And I did. Thank you Alan Sklover and thank you to my wife. This is a success story.

If people follow your advice and, have the documentation like I did to prove themselves they will be able to increase their chances to win. Remember not to lose your cool! Staying calm and being professional speaks much louder volumes than you could ever know!! Thank you again!!

Name Withheld
Arizona

Dear Arizona,

Thanks so much for writing in, and sharing the news of your success. It’s success stories like yours that keep us inspired to keep on blogging!

Our purpose is our passion: To Repair the World, One Empowered and Productive Employee at a Time.

Very Best,
Al Sklover

We LOVE feedback of every kind. Your taking a minute to drop us an email would be so very much appreciated.

Question: I have worked for a bank in Austin, Texas (my hometown) for five years. A year ago they offered me a promotion that involved relocation to New York City, which I jumped on. In April, 2011 I signed the bank’s standard “Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreement.” It covers actual costs of relocation, including any stays in hotels.

The Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreement provides that if I voluntarily leave working for the bank before 24 months, I have to reimburse them 100% if I leave within 12 months of the relocation, and 50% if I leave after 12 months, but before 24 months, that is, to April, 2013.  

I moved to New York and was there for several weeks, living in a hotel, which cost almost $15,000, when the bank decided that it would rather have me relocate to Idaho. So, in November, 2011 for the move from New York to Idaho I was required to sign a second Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreement, this one lasting to November, 2013.

So, here I sit with two signed Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreements, and two very expensive relocation bills. When I recently spoke to my Human Resources representative, she told me, “Both agreements remain in force.” She agreed to elevate the question to the Head of HR, and came back with the same response.

Can this be? If I decide this bank is not for me, do I really have to pay the bank back for both moves?

Shannon
Austin, Texas

Answer: Dear Shannon: What you describe is an example of “The agreement made sense originally, but doesn’t make sense now.” What you are really faced with is a circumstance that no one thought about when the agreement was written and signed.            

1. By the precise words of your two Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreements, you will owe the monies for both agreements if you leave. If anyone reads your first repayment agreement, and then hears that you left the bank, they would say, “A simple reading of the agreement says you owe the bank the reimbursement.” However, we do not read agreements in a vacuum; rather, we read agreements taking into account other circumstances, especially new circumstances. And when those new circumstances came about by the decision of one of the parties, the other party is usually excused from his or her “performance.”      

2. However, a very good argument exists that, while there was no “expressed” provision that said “If the bank has you move away from New York, you don’t have to repay,” there was nonetheless such an “implied” provision in your reimbursement agreement. It is implied in every agreement, whether or not related to employment, that if one party materially changes the circumstances making the other party’s “performance” difficult, if not impossible, that may “forgive” the other party’s performance.

Let me give you a made-up example: Bob and Joe agree that Bob will paint Joe’s car blue for $100 by Tuesday, or pay a penalty of $50 per day for the delay. On Monday, Joe drives his car to an unknown location, and won’t tell Bob where it is. Surely Bob is excused from the penalty, because Joe acted on his own to make performance impossible. 

From my experience with agreements, and employment agreements, in particular, I believe there was implied in your Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreement a clause that should have said: “If the bank moves you away from New York for its own purposes, you will not have to reimburse the bank for its moving you there in the first place.” It’s just that neither you nor the bank thought of that possible circumstance when it was given to you to sign.

3. Because the bank aborted your relocation, and moved you away from New York for its own purposes, common sense dictates that the agreement does not cover that situation, and therefore does not require you to repay those monies. Shannon, I have reviewed and negotiated many relocation reimbursement agreements over the past 30 years. I don’t think I ever thought to put such a provision into one, and I can’t fault you or the bank for not catching that possible circumstance, either. It’s my expectation that the first of the two Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreements you signed would not be enforceable for this very reason.

4. Why not reach out – in writing – either to the Head of HR, or even to the Bank CEO, for a confirmation of my common-sense belief that the first reimbursement agreement is not effective. Frankly, I think you are dealing with a lower-level HR representative who is uncertain of what to do, so she is not doing anything. In a respectful email, I suggest you reach out to the Head of HR, yourself, or perhaps even the Bank’s CEO, for confirmation that the first agreement is not going to be held against you. Though it is “going over the head” of someone, I think it is entirely justified and reasonable that you do so.

5. It seems the bank wants to keep you; if so, they would likely want to keep you feeling that you’re being treated fairly, too. Being chosen for promotions and relocation is a sign you are viewed as a valuable employee. A Relocation Expense Reimbursement Agreement is meant only to prevent the bank from investing in you, and not being able to enjoy the return on its investment. Your move to New York was the bank’s decision, and apparently the bank’s mistake, and should not be something that you are held accountable for. I am fairly confident that you’ll find the bank actually agrees with that, even if it means going to the Head of HR, the CEO, or perhaps even the Board of Directors. Common sense almost always wins out.

6. That said, you may end up needing the assistance of an attorney. I do expect you will be successful by the “informal” approach above. If that does not work, you may need to have an attorney assist you in correcting this problem.

You can locate an experienced employment attorney from the Legal Services section of our blogsite by simply [clicking here.]

Shannon, I suggest you be proactive, and go “higher up” to get peace of mind on this issue. You surely deserve it. I hope you will let us know how your attempt to do that meets with  success.                                                                                                 

Best,
Al Sklover

Repairing the World –
One Empowered and Productive Employee at a Time ™

© 2011 Alan L. Sklover, All Rights Reserved.