Hi all -

Not sure where to start in describing what has been a complete nightmare of a situation. My questions probably cross into the boundaries of several sub-message boards here, but I think this is the best catch-all.

I was recruited away from a Fortune 100 that always tops global lists of best places to work and where I was on a great career trajectory. I based my decision to leave on several factors:

- More money (in base, signing bonus, performance, relo and free medication for a condition I have, which is $1500/yr out of pocket)
- The promise of joining a function that I was told (after asking numerous times in a day-long panel interview): has a great culture; is global in its service; and has a prominent seat at the table (I.e., is valued as a strategic business partner)
- The response to my question about whether the company was setting itself up for an acquisition by or merger with a particular competitor and the likelihood of such a transaction would be.

It quickly became apparent that the interview and everything I was told was either part of a facade (one panelist - when we were discussing issues with the company and how they were inconsistent with what i heard in the interview - said, "Oh [my name], the things they don't tell you in interviews.") or plain incompetence.

The nightmare began with the relo process. After receiving a full-price offer from the first person who looked at my house, the prospective buyer walked when the company made me show pre-inspection documentation (that a real estate attorney I later contacted said was all about CYA and as overstated as possible without being inaccurate). With this albatross around my neck, for months prospective buyers would walk when they saw the documentation (that, mind you, showed conditions that no longer existed because I had them professionally addressed). The stress from this resulted in documented higher blood pressure (which I dont historically have) and higher a1c levels.

It was not until I offered to pay a penalty to sell the house independently that I was relieved of the albatross. Unsurprisingly, I found a buyer and got 98% of the initial list price with a week of doing so. (On the buy-side, I was "strongly urged" to use a certain realtor who was great friends with our senior-most HR leader and owner of the relo policy...he was a fat cat who wad not interested in helping me find a house, and I'm sure he was shocked when I told him to pound sand.)

Then, I found out the medication I was told is free was, in fact, more than what I paid for it through my prev. employer's plan.

Then I learned that the culture is actually terrible. From being told I have to be here by 8 a.m. (not a min later), take my lunch for up to an hour only between 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. and cannot wear polos (despite the fact that people in other departments wear them freely), to learning that our incompetent HR department has been failing for years to fix a widely acknowledged morale issue around culture.

Then it became apparent that our function may be the least valued in the entire company (stark contrast from what i was told by multiple panelists and from what I was accustomed to with my previous employer). Rather than strategic business partners, when we're lucky, we are viewed as monkeys at the end of a check-the-box process line.

Then it became apparent that not only was this not really a global opportunity (I was lured with promises of trips to Barcelona, India and elsewhere), but it wasn't even U.S. opportunity. Hell, we don't really do anything for anyone outside of our HQ building.

There have been many other disappointments in the first six months, but here is the ultimate kicker: 4 months after moving my family here, the company announces it is merging with the very company I inquired about when considering the offer (the one I was told there was a very low chance of that occurring). What's more is that our S-4 filing documents at least 20 meetings and calls between the two CEOs as far as 8 months before i interviewed, with regular meetings virtually every subsequent month. Given the aforementioned HR leader's (borderline inappropriate) closeness with our CEO and my realtor, i feel like the right people knew the full picture and should have given a more accurate response to my merger question.

Oh, and one other thing even more sinister than the merger announcement is this: when they announced the new company's org structure, our department was the only one left out of it, and this wasn't an oversight.

So, with all of that (and many, many other issues), if I were to secure another opportunity, would I have a legal leg to stand on to not repay any of the bonuses or relo (since reality is far from the information i was given and on which i based my decision)?

And taking it even further, could I sue (particularly if I dont make the cut in the new company) for punitive damages based on an offer that wasn't in good faith?

And for good measure, given my lack of decision-making authority and the fact that I do not manage people, i almost feel like im misclassified as exempt. Curious to know what you think.

Thanks for reading this little novella and providing any advice you may have.