Copy editor, New Jersey

I haven't been in touch with Aaron. I wonder if this is truly his call.

 

Buyouts? BUYOUTS? You smokin' something?

This is the Journal Register Company, and these people are at-will employees.

Their "buyout" plan consists of two words: "Bye. Out."

Then an armed escort by security guards out the door.

At our joint we had a 30+-year veteran editor laid off, then walked out the door with a security guard. Three weeks later, the personal contents of his desk were delivered to his house, with half the stuff missing.

No, he can't prove it. Who keeps a detailed inventory of the stuff in your desk?

That's their "buyout plan."

 

that is fucked up.

 

Of the 5 paginators ... how many work each night?

 

Update on the 30+-year veteran editor -- I got a chance to talk to him over the weekend, previously all the details on his case were hearsay.

1) He had, essentially, a spotless work record -- never written up for anything in his career.

2) He was indeed walked out of the building by an armed security guard.

3) In his desk, he had two tape recorders, a camera, a CD walkman player, and a dozen CDs, worth probably $500 altogether, plus several pricey reference books. What he got back from the company was a box of junk. When he spoke to the publisher about the missing items, the publisher said "prove it." No, he did not have receipts on the items.

4) When laid off in late February, he had 5 weeks vacation coming this calendar year. The publisher said, "it's not our fault you didn't take the vacation." No vacation pay.

5) The Company notified the health insurance carrier IMMEDIATELY to have his health coverage cancelled. This was discovered, 10 days after the layoff, when his wife went to an oncologist appointment, to be told the health coverage was no longer good.

6) He has talked to lawyers, and the general consensus is he has no case. He was a salaried, lower-management-level employee -- by definition, he was an "at-will" employee. He probably has no age discrimination case either, because of course his position has not, and probably will not, be filled, by someone younger or anyone else.

Happy days in the Journal Register Company Family.

 

Lapdog, what was the reason given for his termination?

 

"Reducing the force." Cutting the payroll.

 

OK by that standard, the guy doesn't have a chance to get his gig back because NJ is an at-will state.
What puzzles me is whether they are going to replace him. If they do, with younger cheaper talent, he may have a discrimination suit. Do you know that to be true?

 

1. This isn't NJ, but that's not really germane to the discussion. "At-will employee" means they can get rid of you for any reason they feel like (except the classic race/creed, etc etc, all of which would have to be proven).

2. They're not going to replace him, at all; his duties have been divvied up among 3-4 other people. The publisher plans a "complete reorganization" soon, in which most positions will be renamed and reclassified, so his position will not exist any more.

3. The last thing in the world he wants is to come back and work for them again.

 

Lap, I'm confused here. This job that you're speaking about is not at the Trentonian?

 

Nope. JRC owns many other papers, virtually every single one of which they're fucking up in similar fashion, and at virtually every single one of which they're attempting to decimate and cannibalize the staff.