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Unfair Demotion
My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Washington. I am being asked to step down into a lesser position with same pay. I am told that it is because I was pushed too hard, too fast into leadership and because I have a relative in the same department. The relative has worked in the same department since prior to my promotion to my current position. Additionally, there are several relatives working within this same department. My relative, who is my significant other, recently had disciplinary action taken against him. I was asked to step into a lesser position shortly after. I can't help but feel that I am being asked to step down because of someone else's actions. I would like other opinions on this. My performance evaluations have been positive with no complaints about my performance until now. Please write back or private message for more details and with advice. Thank you.
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Re: Unfair Demotion
Absent some form of unlawful discrimination, unless you have civil service protections, a contract or collective bargaining agreement that restrict your employer's actions, your employer can demote you or fire you at will. Neither the fact that they do so for poor reasons or that the outcome is unfair make a demotion or termination unlawful. Your employer can also prospectively reduce your pay -- at least you dodged that bullet.
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Re: Unfair Demotion
The law does not care whether or not an action is "fair" - which is a subjective evaluation, in any case. The law only cares whether an action is legal. Nothing that you have posted suggests that any action taken by your employer is illegal. Nothing in the law says that you cannot be demoted because of the actions of someone else - and I can think of a couple of situations where doing so would be both fair and appropriate.
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Re: Unfair Demotion
If you were in fact promoted before your time and were experiencing issues, be thankful they are just making you to step down. Many places will just allow you to struggle and fail, then fire you.
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Re: Unfair Demotion
That is called the Peter Principle in management. You rise to the level of your incompetence and you stay there. But in OP's case, he was demoted and he is lucky to retain his salary.
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Re: Unfair Demotion
The old GM used to run into this problem frequently. Their solution was to transfer the person into an office with no responsibility and access to a computer so the manager had something to entertain themselves with. Other companies demote you and still get competent labor from you. Someone recognizes you have value to the company or you would have gotten a pay cut also.