Update On The Disposible Generation

As luck would have it my husband has been successful in finding a new job. However, this situation caused him a lot of stress. Fortunately he's in good condition and his health didn't suffer too much.

This new position he has will be a huge change. First, his commute now is twice as far as it was before. This may mean he will have to purchase a scooter to get to work. If not it will mean that he will continue to bike to work which will give me use of the vehicle a few times a week. That's fine, I just want to make sure I have use of it for my medical appointments. The traffic he's going to have to encounter will be much worse then with his last commute because he's going to have to go out onto streets without bike lanes.

The second change for him is the size of the place he will be working at. Its much smaller and he rather likes this. He will even get an office.

The third change is in our medical situation. We will have to change doctors and even our dentist will be different. Unfortunately with this job there will be minimal dental care offered. Plus no eye care is available and he won't be getting a pension. So we will have to adjust to this new situation.

Thank God that he found work so quickly. There are many unfortunate people who never find a new job because of age discrimination in the work place.

The Disposable Generation Part 1 & 2

Here are two articles about how the Baby Boomer Generation has been swept aside in many cases. Often you don't hear a lot about this, but once you experience something similar, you realize just how prevalent this really is:

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/older_not_dead/115342
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/older_not_dead/114561

The Disposable Generation

By Joey Zimny

My husband lost his job recently. He is 55 years old. Not a good time to suddenly find yourself without security.

He was well liked where he worked. The numerous emails he's received from his co-workers certainly indicate this. Some have even commented on how they have lost respect for the person who was responsible for doing this. They have also made numerous suggestions as to how to improve the situation. Thank God for people like that! I'm sure we would not get such kindness from the person who disposed of him.

He is devastated and very depressed. I am also very upset because like him, I am very worried about our livelihood; I am very worried about his well being.

I have checked for work, but I am older then he is and jobs for women my age are not plentiful.

What really bothers me is the way he was let go. He was never given any specific or concrete reasons as to why his job was terminated. We were totally lost why this happened, so we consulted an employment attorney who opened our eyes to many things.

We found out that my husband's employer, along with one other in the state are among the two worst for doing this sort of thing to their employees. I inquired why they wouldn’t furnish him with a reason for his termination instead of throwing vagaries at him. The attorney explained that this buys them time. They can think of more reasons and spin them if you contest their decision. I was horrified at how manipulative this is.

So my husband sent a letter of resignation in lieu of termination. This way he can get good references and collect Employment Insurance providing the employer doesn't contest it. The attorney said he didn't think so, but also stated this particular employer can be vindictive as well. We are hoping this is not the case.

We had hoped that the employer would at least consider placing my husband in another position within his work place. They refused to consider it. We had hoped that they would give him upgrading so he could do the job better. They said no, this would take too much time...they didn't even give him a chance!

So, like so many unemployed, he's sending out his resume and hoping someone will look at the many years of experience he has and consider him to be someone who could be a valuable asset to their team.

Two younger people have come into the work place over the past year and one even admitted he wanted another person "like himself". This was his immediate manager...the general manager more or less made himself scarce through most of this.

So if you are faced with this crisis and it is a crisis, consult an attorney at the first hint of that something isn't right. Don't leave it and find out later you could have done something about it right away.