When new management comes into a department, they often think they know everything and make stupid changes.

What would you do if new managers ended up firing you for not following their new processes, even though you were the best person at your job in the industry?

That is what happened to the engineer in this story, so he sued the company and got a major settlement, while also getting rehired into the department as a contractor making a lot more money.

Things really couldn’t have gone better for this guy. Read through the full story below and see what you think of what happened.

Fired? Are you sure? OK.

So, my friend’s father (since retired) was a mechanical engineer. He was around 55 when this happened and VERY experienced in his field.

People like this are very valuable.

In fact, he had some skill sets that were close to unique to the extent that you might be able to replicate them, but at extreme costs – we’re talking multiple people from multiple companies from multiple countries taking weeks if not months to get up to speed with specific projects to do the same things.

He was also a no nonsense kind of guy who did his job, did it well, but also pointed out problems and expected others to point out problems to him.

He was extremely solution-oriented and had no time for office politics or “keeping a positive attitude” at work.

Nothing wrong with earning a little money on the side.

Basically, your every day grumpy older engineer who really knew his thing and always ready to help if you asked, but not very forthcoming in team building exercises and so on.

He also ran his own business on the side, doing minor projects and so on. As was required by his employer, he had reported this and was sure to not cause any conflicts of interests, so his employer knew and accepted this.

This is a great work arrangement.

He was considered a valuable employee and got several awards (that he cared little for, but anyway) during his many years with this employer.

By all accounts, they paid him well, respected his knowledge and accomodated his style and he returned the favour by working very hard and making sure to mentor younger and newly employed engineers to make them effective co-workers.

Working hard might be American, but the cheering and clapping sure sounds weird.

Then his firm was acquired by a larger firm, and a new management team installed. Initally, everyone was promised that things would remain the same, but with the new management came a new office culture.

The new management pressured for unpaid overtime, for a more “American” corporate culture with cheering and clapping and so on.

He considered it extremely cringe and refused to participate. His status as a long-standing and knowledgeable employee kept him safe for some time, before the new management realised that resistance to the new “culture” centered around him and started pressuring him to play along.

He knows the rules and he will follow them.

When he did not, they turned increasingly hostile, realizing that he held a lot of “soft power” in the company, having mentored a large percentage of the engineers and resistance to their leadership centering around him.

They started ordering him to work overtime, he answered that he was on time with his projects and that if they had identified an emergency requiring overtime, they would have to bring it up with the union to negotiate the over-time and make sure it was an actual emergency.

The contract with the union said no over-time unless in an emergency.

How can you force someone to cheer?

They tried to force him to participate in the cheering and clapping by making it mandatory for him to attend and yelling at him to participate and he did but so unenthusiastically that the event turned even more cringe and people started laughing.

The workday turned more and more hostile, and he knew that things would come to head sooner or later.

Being an experienced engineer and knowing how to document things, he already had his ducks in a row.

They are finally firing him.

Then it finally happened – they caught him answering an e-mail for his side business on his work laptop, brought him in and fired him on the spot for theft of company resources.

He sat at the conference table and looked the three managers in their eyes, one after the other and asked.

He wants to be sure.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

They all said yes.

“Are you REALLY sure you want to do this?”

The union won’t let this happen.

He was escorted to his desk by security to leave his phone, his badge and his computer at the desk and then escorted out.

Once out of the building, he phoned his union representative, who immediately cancelled the firing, claiming there was no just cause, which meant that it would go to the labour board for arbitration.

You see, the company had an IT policy that it was ok to use the company laptop for personal business, including a side business, as long as you were on a break and compliant with IT security protocols, and the company was aware of and had approved his side business.

He is not letting them off the hook.

And he was on a break. Of course, he had his declaration of a side business (signed by his former manager) and the IT policy available and sent both to the union representative.

Then he called his lawyer and asked him to send the pre-prepared cease and desist on two patents he held.

He is going to make the managers pay.

Patents that were not that significant and nothing he could make any serious money out of since they were mostly for very specific things used by the solutions he designed and used at his employer’s, but still his that he had brought with him into the employment and allowed the employer to use in exchange for a slightly higher pay (all duly documented in his contract, of course).

Then he went home for some vacation and tending his side business. He was always a man to prepare and had enough money saved up to last him for a good time, to the extent that he considered retiring entirely.

Things are working out very well for him.

My friend said he had two job offers from competitors that had looked to sniping him for some time within the week – basically as soons as they learned he was available.

He was gracious, but declined, but offered them to consult with his side business, now that he had the time, which they eagerly accepted – at twice the hourly rate he had made at his earlier employer’s.

This is just too funny.

His colleagues started ringing the day after for advice, since the projects he had managed could not go on without him.

He was perfectly polite, but denied any information and help, saying he had left everything he had with management and to contact them, as he was no longer employed there.

It is surprising that the managers had the guts to call him.

Several clients that phoned his private number were told the same thing. Since his private number was not on a public registry, he suspected that both colleagues and clients spent some time and/or money to find it.

It took two weeks before a manager phoned him and asked things. He politely declined to answer, got yelled at and replied with something like “I am sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone who works for you.” and hung up.

If they want his expertise, they will have to pay for it.

This happened a few times, and the next week HR phoned him and stated the firing had been a mistake and he was welcome back to his job.

He again politely declined, saying that he awaited the labour board’s decision, but until then he was happy to consult for them. At six times his hourly pay (after taxes and administrative costs, of course).

He is doing the same work, but for much more money.

After a few days of wrangling and trying to negotiate, they had to accept. And then he sprung the patent issue on them, forcing them to pay for those too.

Less than two and a half week after being fired he was back at his desk. After roughly three months, the firing came to the labour board.

They must really regret firing him.

The employer stated that they believed they had handled the issue correctly, but were still willing to offer my friend’s father his position back, in the interest of “good will” and “reconciliation”.

My friend’s father and the union simply stated that he was now employed elsewhere (his own company) and no longer available.

This is why managers need to think before acting.

The labour board ruled in my friend’s father’s and the unions favour, and he got the normal damages – 3 months pay damage and 24 months pay severance package, including pension and of course the lawyer costs of the union paid by the employer.

According to my friend, her father continued to work there until he retired, working 20 hours or so per week and 10-15 hours for other companies, making a pretty penny, continuing to charge them three times what he charged their competitors as an “jerk tax”.

Now it is hitting them in their wallet.

The managers were not fired, but they were moved into their own group apart from the rest of the department when it came to bonus calculations and the costs of her father’s consultancy fees and the costs of the labour board arbitration were budgeted there.

Meaning they were constantly over budget and thus ineligible for bonuses for several years, which was a decent percentage of the incentives at that company, making at least one of them quit.

He knew he could get away with anything now.

My friend also said her father usually met any management complaints with a big grin and “What are you going to do? Fire me?” after that.

You don’t often get put in such a perfect position, but when you do, it is smart to take full advantage.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this great story.

This commenter got the best of both worlds.

Know the laws where you work.

Team building often just upsets the team.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a company that didn’t expect their work-from-home policy to result in better time off benefits for their employees.

He must have been so happy with this setup.

What kind of company would do this?

Don’t fire someone if you don’t know what they bring to the table. This guy would have kept working for the company until he retired, but the managers couldn’t leave well enough alone.

Fortunately, things worked out perfectly for him in the end.