Advice needed please!!! Sorry so long...

I have been in HR for several years now.  I find my husband in a situation I am sure is wrong, but afraid I am to close to think clearly.  He works for a large retail company, I am sure you have all seen their commercials.  He has been there for 12 years now and has been a Store Manager for 2.  We have moved with the company several times and recently one of his contacts from back "home"  let us know a store had come open.  My husband talked to his District Manager and told him he wanted to move back, because we are in a remote area, we don't know a lot of people and he feels isolated from the other managers in the district.  His District Manager was the one who helped get him promoted in the first place and they have even taken our sons to sporting events.  He thought he would understand.

The DM over the other store contacted his DM in the beginning of April.  They told my husband they were not getting a response from his DM.   After several unanswered emails he was finally told last Friday (5/2) his DM called them back.  Monday he got an email from the other DM telling him his DM denied his transfer.  The company policy states they can only deny a transfer for 2 reasons, as they had problems with people not wanted to let certain employees go.  Reason #1 after a promotion you are committed to a store for 1 year, he has been in this one for 2 years.  Reason #2 if you are on a performance improvement plan, he was not.  My husband forwarded the email to his DM and asked what was going on.  In 15 min he had an email from the Regional HR asking for a meeting today to explain.  During the month it took my husband's DM to get back with the other DM he got afraid something bad was going to happen, so he contacted this Regional HR and asked for a meeting to discuss his concerns.  This is the first reply he has gotten to that. 

 So today he met with them and they gave him a performance write up for 7 months ago and also tried to get him to sign a write up/counseling dated back to that time.  He refused because he was NOT counseled at the time of the write up like it says, and they told him it didn't matter if he signed.  He was given a merit raise in January, made his bonus in February and was given a High rated review and raise 5 weeks ago.  On his review they told him to work on accountability with his assistant manager team.  He got another Performance write up stating he had not been doing this.  How can you measure accountability over 5 weeks?  They have not had any issues come up in that time.  The store meets and/or exceeds all their metrics.    Both Performance writeups were dated 5/3 BTW. 

 I feel this is blatant retaliation.  He has all his "good job" notes and emails showing he is in the top 5 of the district printed and has been taking notes for the last few weeks.  This is totally out of the blue.  He has only had 1 other write up in the last 2 years and it was for overstaffing, being over in hours and that was fixed within a week.

What should we do?  What is the next course of action?  He has reported all of this to the in store HR/investigation system, and they should have a verdict in 10 days.  Should we contact a lawyer?  He has never been a "problem" employee, I would have kicked his behind if he was.  IF he does not accomplish their goals in 3 months, which are totally up for interpretation as to if he is keeping them accountable, then he is fired.

Any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated.  He has already been sending out his resume so that is covered.

Thank You!

Retaliation is only illegal if it's retaliation for something that is protected by law.  Requesting a transfer is not protected by law, and so retaliation from managers reacting to the transfer request is not proscribed by law.

I think that one can usually find a problem with an employer's decision to try to get someone to back-date a written warning for performance by over 7 months.  I wonder if this is a setup for an illegal termination with a performance pretext.  Has your husband used any protected leave, done any whistle blowing, or looked around and noticed he was the only person over 40 working for the Company in his region?

i agree that something fishy is going on but there's lawful retaliation and unlawful retaliation (such as firing an employee for filing a complaint with the equal employment opportunity commission). maybe there is an illegal reason behind the treatment of your husband such as age. maybe the company really wants him to stay put and saw that it's options under the transfer policy are so limited that they felt it necessary to create the pretext. i would tell your husband to talk privately with the DM that he is friendly with and see if he can find the inside scoop. he might also want to talk with other managers to see how they were treated when requesting a transfer.

I agree with the other 2 posters...it doesn't seem like illegal retaliation, but there does seem to be some bizarre pretext in that they are trying to backdate performance plans.  Perhaps they view your husband's request for a transfer as negative and want to create a paper trail for termination.  It is good he has his resume out in any event, but he really should speak with his DM to see if he can find out what is really going on. 

If he's being maltreated because he is over 40, has a disability, or other protected condition, then it is illegal and should be reported to HR and to the EEOC.

Illegal termination how?  To answer your other questions, he is a few years shy of being 40.  He has not had any leave, in fact he is probably the most likely store manager in the district to work a full schedule and then some.  He hasn't done any formal whistle blowing, but he does speak up and question when something seems wrong.  That has never been an issue as he usually sees the why after it is better explained. 

If they are looking to get rid of him, why not just let him transfer, and be someone else's "problem".  It just doesn't make sense.  The other thing is when the 1st half of the year ends he will still be on the performance write up therfore he will not be able to recieve his bonus.  His store is the only in the district meeting plan to recieve the bonus which will be in the area of $15,000.  I don't think that is why they are doing this, but it factors in on the issues.  If at the end of his write up he is taken off and then puts in to transfer again, will we be right back at this same place?  I guess the not knowing their reasons is the biggest question.  Any ideas you have are appreciated.

This not knowing their reason business is the issue.

What state are you in?  The formal borderline of 40 years of age doesn't matter so much everywhere.

Let's start by assuming there's an open door policy and that the HR person involved in the delivery of the writeup is someone local.  If that is the case, then there should be no problem with questioning how this is going on with someone at the corp HR office or at a higher level in the corp HR office.  It is unusual, to say the least, to ask someone to sign a 7 month backdated performance write up.  It never hurts to make sure that someone who may bear personal liability is aware that something so strange is going on under their watch.

One thing you also have to consider is whether or not your husband's perception of the situation is actually correct.  I'm not suggesting your husband is lying to you, but I do think there is the potential for him to be reading his situation incorrectly.  Have you personally seen the store performance reports that indicate that his store is doing so well relative to others?

Yes, I have seen some proof.  He has a stack of emails printed out over the last month.  He started to get paranoid something was wrong when suddenly his DM, who has been a friend, quit replying to his emails, chit chat and work related.  They weekly send out a top 5 and I have seen his "congrats, XXX!"  I to thought maybe he had done something he wasn't sharing or realized and I knew he would need proof if it ever got to that level, but I just can't see it.  BTW we are in Utah. 

He has spoken to the Divisional HR over the HR involved in giving these write ups.  Originally, for advice since his HR was not replying to his need for a meeting while the situation was still developing.  His HR is very new to the position due to a recent restructuring.  The Divisional HR is now investigating the entire situation.  His fear is, being a large corporation they will dismiss his concerns and rely on their lawyers to settle if it ever comes to that.  Of course that would be wrong, but we all know sometimes the wrong people make those calls. 

These write ups cite issues from 7-9 months ago, why did he get a merit increase in Feb and a 4 out of 5 on his review and full allowable increase and bonus in March.  New development as of today, they now want him to write up his management team, for items that intertwine with those stated on his write up, basically solidifying his write up.  If he doesn't, then he could face more documentation.  What to do?!

 

rdhdgirl:

New development as of today, they now want him to write up his management team, for items that intertwine with those stated on his write up, basically solidifying his write up.  If he doesn't, then he could face more documentation.  What to do?!

Clarify with divisional HR what his obligation is under the circumstances.  If he thinks the write up demand is bogus, then he needs to either toe the line (and make his own writeups look legitimate) or stand up for what he believes (and risk termination for insubordination or poor performance).  An email from an authority in HR who can over-ride what he's being asked to do is the best bet at this time.