How do you deal with this situation?

[Hyderabad_Developers]

Long story but please try to be patient and read. Posting for some suggestions and also for others educational purposes.

Sequence of things happened:

• Got an offer letter in January 2024. Meeting about start date discussion with my Manager. I said I can join in May since it is a high risk pregnancy and I need to be with my wife. Wife is in India and we wanted baby in India for various reasons.
• Manager said we need you urgently, you can Join in February and be onsite for 2 weeks to get familiarized and work 5 weeks remote. So I travelled to US stayed for 2 weeks and flew back to India for 5 weeks Remote.
• During these 5 weeks I kept close conversation with Manager about my wife's due date and manager said you can take Paternity leave and FMLA etc.
• Flew back to USA after the remote work and discuss about about the strategy while I am gone.
• Doctor said due date could between April 15 to May 15th given her situation.
• When I discussed the due date with manager, he involved HR and HR said I cannot utilize FMLA(since its not been a year with company) and cannot use Parental leave because the babies are not born yet. I cannot work remotely because I already worked for 5 weeks and company policy does not allow any more.
• I did not relocate until 3 days ago since I had my current lease. Since my manager said I can use FMLA etc etc, I trusted my manager and shipped all my stuff 2 days before they denied FMLA, parental leave etc.
• Since there were no options and Job is nothing compared to the babies, I said I can resign and if you want you can rehire. My manager really liked me so setup an interview at the end of May to rehire and he said it will be a simple one call interview.

Now the problem starts:

• HR said you will have to repay the Relocation since it is going to be a quit and rehire.
• I said I would like to review the repay amount before quitting since it could be very high and will break me financially. I still wanted to travel to India and utilize my accrued vacation days while we discuss repayment numbers and come to a conclusion.
• I left my computer and badge in my office since I won't need them in India whether I resign or take vacation while the relocation discussion is going on.
• All of sudden HR sent me an email saying they accepted my Voluntary resignation and I need to repay Relocation amount. And my accrued vacation are lost because of they accepted resignation.
• This was extremely shocking to me. I know it seems some information is  missing but I feel that way too.
• Another thing that my HR said.... they can make a contract to waive off relocation payment if I lose my vacation days. MY manager was in this meeting along with me.

Next Steps:

• I am going to set up a meeting with HR and my manager and ask why they assumed I voluntarily resigned.
• Ask about the repayment waive off agreement but I am having feeling they will flip and say they cannot make any agreement now.

Suggestion and Learnings:

What are my options here and where could I have improvised?

Should I even consider attending the rehire interview or just repay the relocation(~15K) and call it a day.

TIA.

 

[Hyderabad_Developers]

Maree long unnattundi Post...

2 Lines lo cheptha:

• Manager said I can take FMLA, Parental leave so joined the job and relocated.
• HR said, not eligible for FLMA, parental leave and personal vacation(Not enough days).
• Resigned and manager setup rehire interview for same position next month. Meanwhile HR wants to repay relocation amount which is ~15K or will send it to collections.

Ippudu cheppandi suggestions.

[Sizzler]

Manager screwed up here. You should have reviewed the company policy. Your manager has the sway here. He can work with HR to get you any favors.

[idibezwada]

no use uncle..maavi contracting bathukulu..

[Sizzler]

You shouldn’t have left the Laptop & Badge in Office. Instead carry to India and ask for a flexible schedule instead of time off. I don’t think leaving PC/Badge in office suffices a voluntary resignation though. 
 

Life is more important than job, money etc. Just pay off the relocation amount if you don’t want to deal with this mess. You can make money later and there will be a better opportunity as well. 
 

You on H1B or GC/Citizen? 

[idibezwada]

28 minutes ago, Hyderabad_Developers said:

Maree long unnattundi Post...

2 Lines lo cheptha:

• Manager said I can take FMLA, Parental leave so joined the job and relocated.
• HR said, not eligible for FLMA, parental leave and personal vacation(Not enough days).
• Resigned and manager setup rehire interview for same position next month. Meanwhile HR wants to repay relocation amount which is ~15K or will send it to collections.

Ippudu cheppandi suggestions.

how is rehiring helpfull? 

[jaathiratnalu2]

13 minutes ago, Hyderabad_Developers said:

Maree long unnattundi Post...

2 Lines lo cheptha:

• Manager said I can take FMLA, Parental leave so joined the job and relocated.
• HR said, not eligible for FLMA, parental leave and personal vacation(Not enough days).
• Resigned and manager setup rehire interview for same position next month. Meanwhile HR wants to repay relocation amount which is ~15K or will send it to collections.

Ippudu cheppandi suggestions.

Convey them to Give the post dated cheque for rehire interview date 

[Hyderabad_Developers]

4 minutes ago, Sizzler said:

Manager screwed up here. You should have reviewed the company policy. Your manager has the sway here. He can work with HR to get you any favors.

Ya... That's what I feel too. But manager chethilo emi lenattundi. Accrued Personal vacation days approve chesina kuda HR questioned manager that how can he use vacation if things doesn't work and leads to resignation Ani 

[Hyderabad_Developers]

5 minutes ago, jaathiratnalu2 said:

Convey them to Give the post dated cheque for rehire interview date 

What is this post dated cheque. Remote interview is all ki why cheque?

[Sizzler]

Just now, Hyderabad_Developers said:

Ya... That's what I feel too. But manager chethilo emi lenattundi. Accrued Personal vacation days approve chesina kuda HR questioned manager that how can he use vacation if things doesn't work and leads to resignation Ani 

Manager is just dodging the responsibility here. Since he promised all these, you can hold him accountable to clean the mess. 
 

Do you really want to go back and work for such a company? I can understand given the current market situation though. 

[Hyderabad_Developers]

6 minutes ago, idibezwada said:

how is rehiring helpfull? 

I can stay with my wife and after things get settled, I can rejoin the company. Of course it's up to us anuko.

[Hyderabad_Developers]

2 minutes ago, Sizzler said:

Manager is just dodging the responsibility here. Since he promised all these, you can hold him accountable to clean the mess. 
 

Do you really want to go back and work for such a company? I can understand given the current market situation though. 

I wanted until last week. Ippudu repayment kadithe daanni recover kosam aina vellali anipisthundi but it's heat of the moment.

Job problem ledu I can get another in couple days.

[Sizzler]

2 minutes ago, Hyderabad_Developers said:

I wanted until last week. Ippudu repayment kadithe daanni recover kosam aina vellali anipisthundi but it's heat of the moment.

Job problem ledu I can get another in couple days.

Just ask them to waive the vacation days , not pay the relocation fee , and be on unpaid leave until you return. This is much easier than going through rehiring process etc.

Ask them why are they  hell bent on relocation payback since you are going to join in couple of months…. 

Still not adding up why you left PC/Badge in the office. 

[CanadianMalodu]

2 hours ago, Hyderabad_Developers said:

Long story but please try to be patient and read. Posting for some suggestions and also for others educational purposes.

Sequence of things happened:

• Got an offer letter in January 2024. Meeting about start date discussion with my Manager. I said I can join in May since it is a high risk pregnancy and I need to be with my wife. Wife is in India and we wanted baby in India for various reasons.
• Manager said we need you urgently, you can Join in February and be onsite for 2 weeks to get familiarized and work 5 weeks remote. So I travelled to US stayed for 2 weeks and flew back to India for 5 weeks Remote.
• During these 5 weeks I kept close conversation with Manager about my wife's due date and manager said you can take Paternity leave and FMLA etc.
• Flew back to USA after the remote work and discuss about about the strategy while I am gone.
• Doctor said due date could between April 15 to May 15th given her situation.
• When I discussed the due date with manager, he involved HR and HR said I cannot utilize FMLA(since its not been a year with company) and cannot use Parental leave because the babies are not born yet. I cannot work remotely because I already worked for 5 weeks and company policy does not allow any more.
• I did not relocate until 3 days ago since I had my current lease. Since my manager said I can use FMLA etc etc, I trusted my manager and shipped all my stuff 2 days before they denied FMLA, parental leave etc.
• Since there were no options and Job is nothing compared to the babies, I said I can resign and if you want you can rehire. My manager really liked me so setup an interview at the end of May to rehire and he said it will be a simple one call interview.

Now the problem starts:

• HR said you will have to repay the Relocation since it is going to be a quit and rehire.
• I said I would like to review the repay amount before quitting since it could be very high and will break me financially. I still wanted to travel to India and utilize my accrued vacation days while we discuss repayment numbers and come to a conclusion.
• I left my computer and badge in my office since I won't need them in India whether I resign or take vacation while the relocation discussion is going on.
• All of sudden HR sent me an email saying they accepted my Voluntary resignation and I need to repay Relocation amount. And my accrued vacation are lost because of they accepted resignation.
• This was extremely shocking to me. I know it seems some information is  missing but I feel that way too.
• Another thing that my HR said.... they can make a contract to waive off relocation payment if I lose my vacation days. MY manager was in this meeting along with me.

Next Steps:

• I am going to set up a meeting with HR and my manager and ask why they assumed I voluntarily resigned.
• Ask about the repayment waive off agreement but I am having feeling they will flip and say they cannot make any agreement now.

Suggestion and Learnings:

What are my options here and where could I have improvised?

Should I even consider attending the rehire interview or just repay the relocation(~15K) and call it a day.

TIA.

 

Attend the interview. What's there to loose? Ask all your questions. Leaving your badge or keeping it with you wouldn't have made a difference. Whether to get rehired or quitting it altogether, depends on what you want to do. Do you have some proof of formal communication between yourself and your manager about the whole situation? If yes, then probably talk to attorney before you pay out of your pocket. Your manager can't absolve himself of his responsibility, after assuring you about time off different from your contractual obligations. Record your conversations with your manager, moving forward in case you were to litigate or pursue your legal options. Again, I'm not a lawyer, I'm just telling you what I think.

[AndhraPickles]

Manager nunchi written documentation unte...u can divert the issue towards ur manager for misleading u into this mess...documentation lekapothey ur mistake in not familiarizing urself with company policies.......

ask for a skip level meeting with HR and ur manager's superviser...