Repercussions when taking legal action against employer

1

Hi,

Being quite new to the country, I cannot assess how worthy would be to take legal action against my employer, maybe some of you have had experiences and could help me out.

Context:

I work in tech at a large corp. Two years ago I switched teams and we didn’t get along with my manager from the get-go. Said manager has a non-technical background and needed to be spoon-fed with information in general, focusing on aspects that are arguably non-important in an engineering-heavy org.

I’ve tried and failed to adjust (probably refused as well, most if it seemed ridiculous).

After around an year of working together, I requested a management chain change. My request was denied and we were told to try to make it work. Well, we tried and failed, and after a couple of months, we ended up in the same position.

At that point, I was firm in my position and I said I no longer want to try to make it work and I would want a change.

This couldn’t happen, instead, HR was involved and a lot of name-calling and stuff happened from my manager’s end. I’m happy I didn’t get down to that level, and took matters into my own hands, trying to find a team (at this corp, most teams have a hiring freeze, the internal movement being very restricted)

This was a couple of months back, I did not find a team yet, and I don’t want to anymore, I want to leave the corp altogether. In the meantime, we’ve also got our rewards for the last year, which were expectedly a portion of my usual rewards (haven’t even heard anybody getting my low numbers), despite being one of the highest performers in my team and in general.

Now the question, I’m certain I want to leave the company.

Would it be worth taking legal (I have legal insurance) action? because of the bonus and maybe even settle on parting ways.

Or just let it go, let the manager get away with being vindictive and unreasonable, and put it behind me.

2

If you’re a union member (Syndicom or Angestellte Schweiz are typical for IT), I’d ask them.

That said employee have little/no leverage given at will nature of employment, best case going through court you might get 2 or 3 months of salary (after spending a lot of time/energy).

I doubt you’d be able to change the bonus number through legal means (some internal process might). If you want to leave, and you think they also want you to leave, it’s possible they will offer a deal (but you’d need HR/your manager to initiate that process).

I got the impression it’s typical to offer a few months extra to smooth perf related firing, on condition of signing papers for things like non disparagement/etc. (but again, that’s internal process, not legal means, legal escalation is likely to backfire with no wins since the best a judge would give is a few months of salary).

2 Likes
3

I wasn’t thinking of it getting to court, I thought that even the possibility of it going to court would make them want to settle, but I might be wrong

4

Yeah, I don’t think that can help (the minimum employee protection in swiss law are abysmally small, in most cases employers already offer more than the minimum and you won’t gain anything)

5

Agree, with what @nabalzbhf said. One thing to add, check whether your legal insurance even would cover bonus related issues. Some do explicitly exclude it (e.g. Emilia). If they don’t exclude it, you could at least ask them what they think but I guess they will come to a similar conclusion.

1 Like
6

To be honest, I don‘t see any basis for any legal action, the bonus is toast. If you ask me, your relationship with your employer is beyond fixing. You need to move on. Check with your employer if they offer you a garden leave when you resign or, if you prefer, if they can fire you. But considering where things seem to be - I expect you to walk away without any benefits.

2 Likes
7

thanks, everybody for chipping in.

Reached out to the insurer and provided all the docs, will see what they come back with.

Definitely, at least I learned one more thing not to do, it was probably my last corp, I guess this is how startups are made!:slight_smile:

1 Like
8

Having worked more than 12 months in Switzerland, you are eligible to unemployment insurance money. Having your employer fire you on the ground that they could not resolve the issue with your boss would present a case to the unemployment insurance where you have the least blame possible. The unemployment insurance is assigning a “blame number” to withhold payments for up to 3 months.

1 Like
9

I second what others have said: You don’t seem to have a legal basis for any claim. I recommend you look forward. As your employer has a hiring freeze, they might be happy with letting you go on garden leave with a nice reference. If not, you might just reduce your work output until you are fired and then demand a nice reference anyway (which you do basically have a legal right to in CH).

However, as you are new to the country, be sure to check implications on your visa status (at the next renewal) if you are loosing your income.

10

Had some discussions with my legal insurer.

It turns out that you get the legal basis from your periodical and yearly performance review documents. Those are really good for me, based on them, they say I’d have a very good chance to get ‘something’ out of it.

Now, I’m still pissed at them and it obviously bothers my sense of fairness, however, since then, I resigned and as you folks suggested as well, put it behind me.

Thank you for the looks and thoughts!

2 Likes