I already have an employment attorney, so the following is just my general venting and also to get any comments.
I worked in a high management position at an industrial plant for nearly 15 years. In late 2005, the plant was sold to a new company. As part of the sale, the new company was required to guarantee all the plant employees their salaries for a minimum of one year following the date of the sale. The new employer did in fact issue "offer letters", signed by their CEO, stating that each employee would be guaranteed either their job, or severance pay in lieu thereof, for 12 months following the sale.
Shortly after the sale went through, the new employer issued their "severance pay plan". The new plan stated that they could lay off employees without pay without triggering severance. The employer claimed that their plan preempted the offer letters. Then they proceeded to lay off a bunch of employees, including me, without pay or severance. They have also refused to pay me for the vacation pay I accrued during my short time I worked for them. The total amount of money in question in my case that they owe me is over $100,000.
I complained to the former employer that the new employer had not lived up to terms of the sales contract, but the former employer declined to get involved.
I then hired an employment attorney, and my long saga through the court system started. First I sued the new employer for fraud and breach of contract in state court. The employer countered that their plan is an ERISA plan which preempts my employment contract, and "removed" my case to Federal court. After filing many motions back and forth, the Federal judge finally ruled that the employer's "severance plan" does not preempt my employment contract and threw the case back to state court. That is where it stands now. I am waiting to see if the company makes me a reasonable settlement offer, otherwise we go back into court again.
So, as you can imagine, this is a very expensive case for me.
I am wondering if anyone in this community has experienced anything similar to this, or just any thoughts or comments on this in general. Due to the ongoing litigation, I can't be too specific about what happened or the names of the parties.

