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Bank’s severance deal requires IT workers to be on call for two years
Computerworld ^ | 19 October 2015 | Patrick Thibodeau

Posted on 10/22/2015 7:08:16 PM PDT by Lorianne

SunTrust Banks in Atlanta is laying off about 100 IT employees as it moves work offshore. But this layoff is unusual for what the employer is asking of its soon-to-be displaced workers: SunTrust's severance agreement requires terminated employees to remain available for two years to provide help if needed, including in-person assistance, and to do so without compensation.

Many of the affected IT employees, who are now training their replacements, have years of experience and provide the highest levels of technical support. The proof of their ability may be in the severance requirement, which gives the bank a way to tap their expertise long after their departure.

The bank's severance deal includes a "continuing cooperation" clause for a period of two years, where the employee agrees to "make myself reasonably available" to SunTrust "regarding matters in which I have been involved in the course of my employment with SunTrust and/or about which I have knowledge as a result of my employment at SunTrust."

The employees were informed of their layoff at the end of September, and the last day of work for some is Nov. 1. This is according to several of the affected employees, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
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To: SeaHawkFan
Improperly train the replacements, take the severance and then just not be available.

Well, instruction manuals do get lost, and who could fault an ex-SunTrust employee for changing a few passwords, and then forgetting exactly what the new passwords are. After all, those ex-employees are under a lot of stress.

As for not being available, the contract mentions that the ex-employees must be "reasonably available". That is so vague as to be meaningless.

In other words, I agree with you.

61 posted on 10/22/2015 8:27:34 PM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: dp0622
I am so sick of this profession and how we get screwed in it now. Back in the day, it was like the wild west. A buyer's market. Now, it's like indentured servitude that pays peanuts. If anyone knows of a respectable career change that a 52 year old man can make, I'm all ears. And horns.


62 posted on 10/22/2015 8:35:00 PM PDT by Viking2002 (The Avatar is back by popular request.)
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To: dfwgator

Exactly. This can prevent them from taking other employment. Which could be what the original employer wants, so that no skills get transferred to a new company.


63 posted on 10/22/2015 8:35:49 PM PDT by firebrand
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To: Lorianne
I would take the severance, and then change my phone number. If they want to send someone out to my house then they are welcome to do so. Of course no one will be answering the door. Any attempt to contact me by mail would end up in the circular file. My email accounts known to them would be decommissioned.

If they somehow did manage to catch up to me, I would demand an exorbitant hourly rate. If they refused I would ride out the severance contract period and then contact the Labor Department regarding Fair Labor Standards, and how they are ignoring them.

64 posted on 10/22/2015 8:37:39 PM PDT by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: Lorianne

You’re fired ... sort of?


65 posted on 10/22/2015 8:37:59 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: Lorianne

Depositors should run the bank.


66 posted on 10/22/2015 8:46:02 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (We must first defeat RINOs before we can even encounter a Democrat to fight)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

The Register has another take on this situation. tl;dr: Very Bad Idea...for the bank.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/22/the_zombie_programmer_awakens/


67 posted on 10/22/2015 8:47:45 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg | Instagram: hopalonginsberg)
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To: OrangeDaisy
as they try to please Wall Street’s insatiable need for earnings growth every year.

Just for the new MBA to justify his existence, quality and salaries etc. have to be less. Ever wonder why the enjoyment of our food goes down every year? Why everyone's always talking about how good things used to taste? Just for instance. Applies to all industries.

68 posted on 10/22/2015 8:50:22 PM PDT by firebrand
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To: Slings and Arrows

Hopefully, the bank WILL ONLY call them for legal or regulatory matters. They’d be wise not to call them for tech matters.


69 posted on 10/22/2015 8:52:05 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Democrats and GOP-e: a difference of degree, not philosophy)
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To: Viking2002

Presentations center are only really in big cities like NY, LA etc,.

You have to know Excel/PowerPoint/Word creating and charting very well.

can make 60 70k...that’s what i fell into.

you were probably making more.

ah, my fiance makes abuot the same so when we get married we’ll be ok.

Staten Island is cheaper than NYC


70 posted on 10/22/2015 8:52:12 PM PDT by dp0622
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

I’d tell them to drop dead.


71 posted on 10/22/2015 8:54:49 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

True, but “wise” is not the word that comes to mind.


72 posted on 10/22/2015 9:07:32 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg | Instagram: hopalonginsberg)
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To: dp0622
I've been a support grunt. Install/repair/config desktops, servers, switches, network print services, AD admin, some Citrix and other enterprise-level services, that sort of end-to-end work. The money used to be great, and I figured that they'd never be able to outsource us, but what's left out there nowadays is like being a plantation hand. Granted, I'm an hour from any city of any size (Atlanta is one), but it has just dried up, and anything out there is either POS servicing, or telecom. The only good-paying gigs out there in the salary range you're talking about are project contracts, and I'm about done with that crap. It's feast or famine. And I've done both. I'd like a modicum of stability for a change.


73 posted on 10/22/2015 9:12:23 PM PDT by Viking2002 (The Avatar is back by popular request.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I'll be the severance agreement also has a non-compete clause blocking you from working for a competitor. So you can't land a new job and have to be on-call for two years to provide free consulting.

No need for a non-competition clause... After all, what prospective employer in his right mind would hire someone who truthfully admitted, "Oh, by the way, my former employer might demand that I make myself available at the drop of a hat."?

Regards,

74 posted on 10/22/2015 9:22:18 PM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: OrangeDaisy

I would give them two hours for each year of service. It’s called negotiations.


75 posted on 10/22/2015 9:22:55 PM PDT by Kozy
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To: Viking2002

my heart goes out. they tried to and succeeded in most places with outsourcing to India the presentations centers.

but at Lazard, they were so bad they closed down after two years,

so i was set, 70k, great benefits, the works, then God laughed and I got a head injury :)

8 years later working on Staten Island in dispatch center as supervisor,. Money is Very good for Staten Island and fiance makes good dough like i said, so we’ll be ok.

i’m 47. at 35 i was going to conquer the world.

It conquered me lol.

I like that line from Gladiator. It fits to more than death.

“Death laughs at men. All a man can do is laugh back”

You could put “life” in there too.

i dont let the leftover symptoms destroy me and I just try to laugh at the whole absurd thing that doesn’t make any sense or have any point unless God is real.

I’m not taking any chances :)


76 posted on 10/22/2015 10:11:37 PM PDT by dp0622
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To: dp0622
LOL When I was 35, I was fit enough for football and the world was my buffet. Now I'm 52. The world's not only conquered me, it's got my head on a pike outside the gates. Quick story on outsourcing: About a dozen years ago, I was in between gigs and got picked up as an internal help desk analyst for a regional telecom firm - one of the 'Baby Bells'. I was told it was contract-to-perm. After a few weeks there, I discovered I was misled.. I was brought in to backfill for some of the IT staff who were getting ready to fly to India for a month to train their own replacements. Yep, imagine being outsourced and forced to train the guy taking your job as a condition of severance pay. Well, I started to circulate my resume again, locked onto a good onsite gig, and they day before I left, they had to scuttle the whole outsourcing deal because the group they hired in India quit en masse after being trained and took jobs with another IT firm across the street! LOLOL Karma is a bitch, and she had PMS that week. I just smiled at management as I left with a look like, "Cheerio, SUCKERS!" LOL


77 posted on 10/22/2015 11:34:15 PM PDT by Viking2002 (The Avatar is back by popular request.)
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To: Viking2002

ah, SWEET REVENGE :)

i’m 47, you’re 52. we’re close in age

i’m, working at dispatching center where i manage guys in the field doing all kinds of labor from fixing CVS sidewalks to changing lightbulbs to redoing a closet.

i know @#$@#$ about this stuff lol. And have some 22 year old chick with nasty face but GREAT FIGURE!! yelling at me all the time!

“well the time slips away and leaves you with nothing muster but boring stories of...Glory Days”

Bruce is a liberal idiot and it doesn’t make sense because his songs are about the working man.

Let’s look at it like we’re not 72. We’re young to them. and they’re young to 92 :)

when i worked selling vacuums lol at 18, i heard a woman on the phone who just turned 40 say “ah, i tell myself at least i’m not 60, then i’ll say at least i’m not 80” lol.

Good for her.

Glory Days... :)


78 posted on 10/23/2015 12:13:14 AM PDT by dp0622
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To: Lorianne

Bookmark.


79 posted on 10/23/2015 1:58:57 AM PDT by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: Regulator

I have to believe that HR at SunTrust isn’t saying too much about it. Not that they’re not proud of what they do...


80 posted on 10/23/2015 2:00:32 AM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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