Termination ‘for Cause’/Unpaid Wages/Retaliation/whistleblower

[Jeff14V!]

Jurisdiction

Utah

There's two sides to every story. Here's my side-

I was terminated 'for cause' in August 2019. I was with a Utah tech company as a sales leader for over 14 years. I was responsible for over 250 sales reps that I personally recruited to the company. I had zero compliance issues. Even the executives/owners kids worked for me.

I was terminated about a week after I notified the VP of Law and Compliance at my former company that the companies inside sales reps should not be selling in a certain state without a business license. I also explained this stated statutes to Vivint's Vp of Law since he was somewhat new in the tech business and I had experience in licensing in this state. (All communication documented)

I have an email exchange where the government official for this state (Licensing Director) confirms that a license is needed for each individual rep conducting phone sales in this state.

However, the companies position on my termination 'for cause' was due to my accessing company data in an improper way. They also state I should not have had access to it, even though a company data analyst instructed me how. That 'improper way' was something that I had been approved to do with my sales force for over two years by some of the executives of the company, in closing sales leads that our inside sales department couldn't 'close.'

I accessed with my own login info, a program called Tableau. It's thru Tableau that I could see that our inside sales department was selling w/o a license.

I have documentation that each file in Tableau is noted as 'Public' or 'Private'. Only the 'Public' files were accessed. Meaning it was obviously not sensitive info data I accessed. Regardless, what I was doing I had been doing with top level approval. (Lots of documentation)

To this day I'm still confused at why I was terminated. I wonder if the VP of law and compliance had some vendetta at me for explaining the law to him?

Also, I was supposed to be paid all my commission earnings up to the point of my termination (owed about $711,000 still). The company drafted a settlement and release of claims agreement in February 2020 to pay me. There's no expiration date in the document. I signed it in August 2020. The chief legal officer of my former company states 'the company is not authorized to sign it.' They haven't paid me on my wages.

Just over a year since my termination and I've still not been paid my wages.

With this limited knowledge what would you do if you were in my shoes? What legal counsel would you give me? Btw..The company is still not licensed to do business in the state they're doing phone sales in. As of 4 weeks ago I've hired an attorney. I'd like to see if your counsel is similar to his..

I was terminated for 'just cause' in August 2019. I was with a Utah tech company as a sales leader for over 14 years. I was responsible for over 250 sales reps that I personally recruited to the company. I had zero compliance issues. Even the executives/owners kids worked for me.

I was terminated a week after I notified the VP of Law and Compliance at my former company that the companies inside sales reps should not be conducting phone sales in a certain state without a business license. I also explained this states statutes to the Vp of Law and compliance since he was somewhat new in the tech business and I had experience with the licensing in this state. It's a very tough state to get licensed in and even more of a pain to have to license every individual in a massive call center to conduct business in this southern state from Utah.

I have an email exchange where the government official for this southern state (the Licensing Director) confirms that a license is needed for each individual rep conducting phone sales.

However, the companies position on my termination for 'just cause' was due to my accessing company data. They state I should not have had access to it, even though a company data analyst instructed me how. The data I used was something that I had been approved to do with my sales force for over two years by some of the executives of the company, in closing sales leads that our inside sales department couldn't 'close.' Interestingly enough, I was terminated in regards to our inside sales department. I believe when I told the VP of law about the inside sales dept selling in a certain state unlicensed that they quickly tried covering up the situation by getting rid of me. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I was not given a warning about accessing something I'd been accessing for a long time, and all of a sudden called into the office to be fired.

My employment agreement states " Termination "For Cause" shall include, but is not limited to, (i) commission of a crime involving moral turpitude, theft, fraud or deceit, (ii) conduct that brings the company, or any of its affiliates, into public disgrace or disrepute, including, but not limited to, being arrested for or charged with a crime, (iii) Representative's death, (iv) violation or breach of any provision of this Agreement, (v) violation of company rules, regulations, handbooks, manuals, policies, practices and procedures, (vi) providing any false or misleading information to company, or any of company affiliates, or directing, instructing or encouraging any one to provide false or misleading information to company, or any of company affiliates (including, but not limited to, directing, instructing or encouraging a person to provide false or misleading information on any survey), (vii) failure to perform any of Representative's obligations under this Agreement, or (viii) failure or inability to obtain any necessary or required license(s) or permit(s).

I accessed with the data site with my own login info, a program called Tableau. It's thru Tableau that I could see that our inside sales department was selling w/o a license.

I have documentation that each file in Tableau is noted as 'Public' or 'Private'. Only the 'Public' files were accessed. Regardless, what I was doing I had been doing with top level approval for two years and then a week after I blow report to legal this companies noncompliance they terminate me for accessing and utilizing this data for strictly company purposes.

I was supposed to be paid all my commission earnings up to the point of my termination. The employee agreement states that and the law in Utah states that. The company drafted a settlement and release of claims agreement in December and then another one revised in February 2020 to pay me. There's no expiration date in the document. I signed it in August 2020 after the CEO and I went to lunch where he encouraged me to sign it. I sent it to the chief legal officer of my former company. He states 'the company is not authorized to sign it' in an email back to me. They still haven't paid me on my wages. I'm owed $511,000. This amount is documented with our payroll department and they've got an email from the legal department stating to not pay me. The CEO and I are good friends and I still 'consult' behind the scenes with the hope I'd be back by now but it's not looking that way at the moment due to company politics.

In march 2020 I was approved to work for a sister company of my former tech firm by 'the board'. I onboarded with them. In August 2020, 'the board' called the CEO and CRO of this sister company and asked them to terminate their agreement with me. It's my belief the CLO and VP of Law and compliance complained to 'the board' about their approving of me to work for this sister company. It's a bit messed up if you ask me. I hadn't even gotten started with the new opportunity.

What legal counsel would you give me? Since employees are protected by reporting a 'common law public issue' am I still within my statute of limitations? What are my options?

Here's what I can prove with much documentation and evidence (hundreds of pages of evidence)-

• the companies inside sales department reps sold and continue to sell in a state they should be licensed in
• I have an email from the head gov't official for licensing stating that they should each have a license
• I have hundreds of documents showing the data i'd been utilizing for only company purposes i had been accessing for over two years with upper level management approvals
• payroll has communicated to me thru email how much i am owed. they've stated in an email that legal has said to not pay me.
• I signed the settlement agreement and release of claims, the CLO responds they're not paying it

What I want? I want to be paid what I'm owed and get reinstated. Or, I want to be paid what I am owed plus future wages. I even had stock I had accumulated since 2013 valued at just under $2m. Poof, gone. But wait.. the CEO reallocated it to a family member of mine when I was terminated because he believes I was terminated for something bogus. Don't worry, that CEO to this day says his hands are tied in being able to rehire me and can't until the CLO is gone. Odd I know. What would you encourage I do? And yes, I've already hired an attorney and its about to go to mediation/arbitration but I'm interested in your thoughts…

Also, yes, I know, it sounds like a weird company.. it is, but it's where I want to be..

 

[Tax Counsel]

To this day I'm still confused at why I was terminated. I wonder if the VP of law and compliance had some vendetta at me for explaining the law to him?

That's something you you'd need to ask the VP of Law. I am assuming that this VP was a lawyer and thus the chief corporate counsel for the firm. If so, I doubt he'd be upset that you pointed out the law to him. Lawyers do that with each other all the time. Rather, he'd be glad to know that the reps needed those licenses since his job as corporate counsel would be to advise the company of the law and recommend things that the company needs to do to comply with the law. That's how he helps the company avoid getting slammed by the government for violations of the law. Now, it may be that when he pointed this out to some other executive he or she got bent out of shape by it. Why that it, though, is hard to imagine since in most states getting a business license is not a big deal and mostly involves registering with the state/local government and paying a relatively small licensing fee.

But if you were wondering whether the termination was wrongful, as that term is used in the law, and thus would give you grounds to sue, all I can tell you is that based on just what you said here, the answer appears to be no. A private company in Utah (and every other state except Montana) does not need good cause to fire an employee. Rather, the employer may fire an employee for any reason other than one of the relatively few reasons that are prohibited by law. A termination is wrongful if it was for one of those prohibited reasons.

Terminating you for what the company says is wrongful access of its computer system, if that was the real reason, would not be a wrongful termination. If you were fired in retaliation for reporting the noncompliance with the licensing requirements of that other state, that too is likely not a wrongful termination. Often you are protected from termination for reporting to the government violations of the law by the employer. But only in very limited circumstances are you protected for reporting legal violations of the company to other persons within the company. Most states would not protect you in reporting to company officials a simple failure to get a business license in some other state.

You can ask a UT employment law attorney if there is any chance of a good wrongful termination claim if the real reason was retaliation over the reporting of the license violation. Do that sooner rather than later since if the SOL has not yet expired on any claim you do have it could expire if you wait too long. And once the SOL is gone, your claim is basically dead.

Also, I was supposed to be paid all my commission earnings up to the point of my termination (owed about $711,000 still). The company drafted a settlement and release of claims agreement in February 2020 to pay me. There's no expiration date in the document. I signed it in August 2020. The chief legal officer of my former company states 'the company is not authorized to sign it.' They haven't paid me on my wages.

Just over a year since my termination and I've still not been paid my wages.

With this limited knowledge what would you do if you were in my shoes?

The wage claim would be my first priority if I were you. If you are truly owed over $700,000 in unpaid wages you need to see a civil litigation attorney who litigates breach of contract/unpaid wage claims ASAP. If you blow the SOL on this you're out a huge amount of money. Really, you should not have sat on this for even a year after your termination. Setting up an unpaid wage claim is much more straightforward than pursuing most wrongful termination claims.

 

[Jeff14V!]

That's something you you'd need to ask the VP of Law. I am assuming that this VP was a lawyer and thus the chief corporate counsel for the firm. If so, I doubt he'd be upset that you pointed out the law to him. Lawyers do that with each other all the time. Rather, he'd be glad to know that the reps needed those licenses since his job as corporate counsel would be to advise the company of the law and recommend things that the company needs to do to comply with the law. That's how he helps the company avoid getting slammed by the government for violations of the law. Now, it may be that when he pointed this out to some other executive he or she got bent out of shape by it. Why that it, though, is hard to imagine since in most states getting a business license is not a big deal and mostly involves registering with the state/local government and paying a relatively small licensing fee.

But if you were wondering whether the termination was wrongful, as that term is used in the law, and thus would give you grounds to sue, all I can tell you is that based on just what you said here, the answer appears to be no. A private company in Utah (and every other state except Montana) does not need good cause to fire an employee. Rather, the employer may fire an employee for any reason other than one of the relatively few reasons that are prohibited by law. A termination is wrongful if it was for one of those prohibited reasons.

Terminating you for what the company says is wrongful access of its computer system, if that was the real reason, would not be a wrongful termination. If you were fired in retaliation for reporting the noncompliance with the licensing requirements of that other state, that too is likely not a wrongful termination. Often you are protected from termination for reporting to the government violations of the law by the employer. But only in very limited circumstances are you protected for reporting legal violations of the company to other persons within the company. Most states would not protect you in reporting to company officials a simple failure to get a business license in some other state.

You can ask a UT employment law attorney if there is any chance of a good wrongful termination claim if the real reason was retaliation over the reporting of the license violation. Do that sooner rather than later since if the SOL has not yet expired on any claim you do have it could expire if you wait too long. And once the SOL is gone, your claim is basically dead.



The wage claim would be my first priority if I were you. If you are truly owed over $700,000 in unpaid wages you need to see a civil litigation attorney who litigates breach of contract/unpaid wage claims ASAP. If you blow the SOL on this you're out a huge amount of money. Really, you should not have sat on this for even a year after your termination. Setting up an unpaid wage claim is much more straightforward than pursuing most wrongful termination claims.

Thanks for your response. The company license is a nightmare to complete for individuals. I do believe he did report to the executive over inside sales and he was as you said 'bent out of shape' by it and had me shut up quick. And yes.. I'm owed $711k in unpaid wages. Hence, the settlement and release of claims agreement. But I was fired for 'just cause' and that 'just cause' is wrong in my opinion. Would've thought I was protected with public issue

 

[Jeff14V!]

Thanks for your response. The company license is a nightmare to complete for individuals. I do believe he did report to the executive over inside sales and he was as you said 'bent out of shape' by it and had me shut up quick. And yes.. I'm owed $711k in unpaid wages. Hence, the settlement and release of claims agreement. But I was fired for 'just cause' and that 'just cause' is wrong in my opinion. Would've thought I was protected with public issue

Actually the SOL hasn't occurred. Public policy.

 

[Zigner]

The OP has an attorney per his thread here and on another board. The OP needs to listen to his attorney, not random strangers on the internet.

 

[army judge]

What I want?

Tell your LAWYER, there is no way strangers can assist you win obtaining your wants.

I've already hired an attorney and its about to go to mediation/arbitration but I'm interested in your thoughts…

I have no thoughts to offer you.

I'm a stranger and concern myself with "my wants", which I "satisfy".