Okay Sup Forums, I need to know if I'm being a complete fucktard

okay Sup Forums, I need to know if I'm being a complete fucktard.

I just reached a preliminary settlement agreement for $100,000 and got to see the proposed paperwork today for the first time. As a requirement of the settlement, I not only have to drop my law suit (which yeah, is the point of the settlement), but also I can never talk about what happened to me (this was never agreed to ahead of time).

At this point I have to decide to take the $100,000 and live the rest of my life in silence, or tell them to fuck off and take my changes in court (a two year process with huge legal fees) .

I'm now a poor college student and could really use the money, but I don't think I could live with myself if I sold out like this. What do?

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Loosely, what happened OP? Did a company fuck you over or something?

Can you hint around at the circumstances the brought about the lawsuit?

Like fast food industry, something sexual happened.

You do realize that 100k will be gone VERY fast right? Like a few years tops..

I was fired for pretextual reason that turn out to be really due to having a disability which required me to use FMLA time.

Yeah, but when you can't pay the rent or utility bills it seems like a shit ton.

That's exactly why it won't last. I had 150k 2 years go, i'll put it to you that way.

good point.

If you take a settlement you are directly screwing other disabled people over because the company will not have to change their policies or bigotry and the people responsible will not be affected by the pay off anyway.

It's basically you wheeling your disabled ass away in shame. Don't do it.

>FMLA

If your able to find another job take the money. If not then what are you going to do when you expose the company?

Best case it creates an uproar, maybe you get a go find me going some other understand company hires you.

Sounds like you're not able to work because of disability though.

Idiot blows 75k in two years wtf?

Live sensibly and it lasts a while.

OP, they're bribing you to shut up and go away.

This means they actually fear the real lawsuit.

When you talk to your lawyer, ask him if he's willing to work pro-bono until you win the case, at which point he can take his fees from the payout. If he thinks you can win $10 million bucks or something, then don't sign the settlement and procede with the lawsuit.

YES! This is exactly it! The EEOC is making the company change their policies, but not being able to share my story will limit my ability to help other people and advocate for better legal protections.

How did you get 150k?

That's more than enough to pay off all my debts.

I dont really know what FMLA is but I figure if you have genuine cause for a lawsuit you have two options:
1) take the money. Manage it well, maybe buy half a house.
2) go public and ram a metaphorical cock up their asses for ever fucking with you. Perhaps you could start some corny crowd fund thing to help you sue them and manipulate people into paying for the lawsuit for you?

yeah well I live in a 2 million dollar house... Not everybody has the same living expenses. I never said I had ONLY 150k, I said I had 150k, as in extra.

Not discussing cases if settled out of court is standard procedure, op. Just take the sure thing and enjoy the 100k and forget about that shit, put it behind you and move on.

Worked in the oil field for like 3 years and just saved some of the money.

This is part of the reason I don't want to be silent about this. If you are suing a company for disability discrimination you can only sue for $300,000 max by law.

If you are suing for any other title VII offense (like for discrimination based on your race, sex, or religion) there are no limitations. The law is extremely unfair for people with disabilities.

If they're willing to upfront pay 100k without being ordered by a court to do so it means they're scared of actually going to court against you.
But if they win you'll be fucked even harder.
It's unlikely they'll win tho based on what you've said so far, unless you're withholding information from us.

Fmla is like disability leave that doesn't come out of your pto or eib hours. Unpunishable by employers but you don't get paid I think

Take the fucking money. Are you kidding me?

Why would you even want to talk about it? Be a fucking man, take the cold, hard cash, and forever be done with it.

Look, in all seriousness, I've been through one or two lawsuits myself and they SUCK. Endless continuance motions and uncomfortable depositions.

Provided you win, the case will be appealed and the judgement will bounce up and down as its enhanced and reduced.

THEN you've got to execute the judgement and actually collect on it which is a whole other thing.

Listen to me OP and listen good...

Take. The. Fucking. Money.

Sell the fucking house and get a small apartment you fucking dumbass

$300,000 max, huh?

Tell them you'll sign the non-disclosure agreement for $300k, or otherwise you'll go ahead with the lawsuit, win, and they get to enjoy all the bad publicity.

It's a win/win. You get your max payout, and they avoid a public relations fiasco.

Why? It's paid and it's mine.... Why the fuck would I do that? I got to live the pleasures of multiple lifetimes in a few years and it cost me nothing except money. No regrets.

and the ugly guys losers smell like dog poo and try to act better then everybody but is ugly as shit and get rejected by the popular people and think is better then everybody but is ugly as shit and smell like dog shit like beyonce like the ugly guys losers that try to hurt the popular people and smell like dog poop like beyoncer and is ugly
and thats why the ugly guys losers got lame friends and is ugly

This guy is not the OP (I am). I don't live in an expensive house. I'm a poor college kid.

just need you to sign these forms before you go full retard m9

Jesus christ, this. If I had a $2M house I'd sell the fucking thing, invest $1M of it in stocks, buy a 50-acre property in the middle of nowhere, put up a trailer home, and never work another day for the rest of my life.

I can't even imagine why anyone would want to be a slave to a $2million dollar property (almost assuredly in some fucking suburban neighborhood surrounded by assholes) for their entire life.

Yeah, at this stage they won't be willing to settle for the full amount of their liability (even if I agreed to non-disclosure).

Here is an example of how the caps work:

lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f7dea99d-c17e-4c99-a86f-7ab50ba08dee

Yeah, I won't ever have to work again.... Thanks for the advice though.

>but also I can never talk about what happened to me
That doesn't mean other people can't talk about it.

Did you watch the Netflix original Dare Devil?

>girl witnesses something
>people try to kill her
>she doesn't end up getting killed
>she accepts money to keep silent
>her journalist friend doesn't have to keep silent, and telling him would be in private, so she wouldn't be making it public, so it doesn't go against the terms
>she tells journalist
>journalist gets murdered

Take the money, move to canada to, start new life. College is only 5k a year if residential. win at life.

what does your lawyer recommend. Please realize these fuckers can REALLY fuck you over if you discuss it with ANYONE.

foxnews.com/us/2014/03/03/man-loses-80000-legal-settlement-after-daughter-facebook-post-violates.html

if you do go this route, make sure there are some processes in place to protect you from accidental disclosure.

I would also consider this - tell them you need an extra $50k for the non disclosure portion. see what they say.

>$100,000
>but I wanna talkkkk about it!

Show us your tits, OP. You're clearly a woman, and you know the rules.

NDA is normal talk to your lawyer about hav8ng a clause in the agreement where they have to tell other potential employers of you thst you did a good job and were a good employee. Otherwise future employers might be worried about yourcwork history.

>When you talk to your lawyer, ask him if he's willing to work pro-bono

I can almost guarantee the lawyer is already working for a percentage of the settlement.

>Yeah, I won't ever have to work again.... Thanks for the advice though.
You're not living lifetimes in a house. You need a small house with a backyard at best.
With all that extra money, you can truly experience life, not a big room with smaller rooms inside of it.

Nope, I'm actually a guy. I can still show you my tits though - but you'll be very disappointed to hear that I'm flat chested.

>pro-bono until...

That's called contingency. And I'm sure that OP has already signed the retainer agreement for hourly/modified contingency.

My current attorney is working pro-bono as part of a disability rights law firm (supported by a federal grant). They will only represent me during the settlement - I can't find a pro-bono attorney willing to represent me in court and I can't afford to hire an attorney.

Oh. Then there you go.

Take the settlement because you really have no other option.

And rest assured that you did the right thing by saving yourself years of stressful court proceedings.

So, because disability cases are limited to a maximum award amount of $300,000 (best case scenario after going through the courts), there are few to no attorneys willing to risk a shit ton of their time on a low pay out contingency case.

Believe me, I have looked!

I can always go pro se. It's crazy, but at least then I could sleep at night knowing I didn't sell out.

Yeah. That uh...was my point, that no attorney would work a case like yours on pure contingency. It would have to be either hourly or modified contingency where they reduce their hourly rate (usually in half) and then take it back out of the judgement provided you prevail.

You really are disabled, aren't you?

I am not "disabled" since I can still work. But I have a disability - basically I get really sick (autoimmune shit) at random times and can't work for a few days at a time.

I was still able to get my work done and had great performance reviews, but HR saw me as a nuisance since I would have to call out more frequently then other employees.

No amount of money is worth your dignity. If they did something messed up, they don't deserve a settlement.

You're staring a gift horse in the mouth and you don't even know it. I can't believe you're not banging on your lawyer's door right now telling him to pull the fucking trigger and take the settlement.

If it's not about the money to you, then what is it about? Your pride? Then drop the lawsuit and take up journalism. You can gab it up all you want about how badly you were treated (boo-hoo!)

If the money means something to you, then realize that you're being offered 1/3 of what you could POTENTIALLY get (which is actually a fairly generous offer).

Realize that this will save you years of time, money, effort, and sleepless nights. Realize that a NDA is pretty typical and standard and you'll have to live with that and it's no big deal.

Jesus, man...

Thanks Sup Forums, believe it or not you really helped me think this through. Maybe (if anyone gives a shit) I'll post the EEOC's findings when this is sorted out.

Yeah well that's like, your opinion. I have 5 indoor dogs, a family, a studio, an art room, a fish room, a "flower room", a theatre, I use all that shit. Everyday I wake up feeling like a kid in willie wonkas factory so I don't think buying a shittier house for no reason is gonna enhance that feeling at all.

I am truly experiencing life, the difference is I don't have to leave my house to go on "vacation" to do it now, my life is a vacation.

Yes, my family and their family will live lifetimes in this house for many generations.

>You can gab it up all you want about how badly you were treated (boo-hoo!)

Yeah, I get that. My issue is more about perpetuating these problems (specifically disability discrimination) by no being able to talk openly about them. It is about the money, but it is also about fixing the core problem.

>
>
>Yeah well that's like, your opinion. I have 5 indoor dogs, a family, a studio, an art room, a fish room, a "flower room", a theatre, I use all that shit. Everyday I wake up feeling like a kid in willie wonkas factory so I don't think buying a shittier house for no reason is gonna enhance that feeling at all.
>I am truly experiencing life, the difference is I don't have to leave my house to go on "vacation" to do it now, my life is a vacation.
>Yes, my family and their family will live lifetimes in this house for many generations.

OP here. Just for clarification this ^^^ is not me. I don't live in a big house (it would be nice). I live at the edge of town with roommates.

If you don't take the settlement, I honestly don't want to hear about it, and no one else will want to hear about it either.

The next 2+ years of your life will go like this...

>lawyer's filing a summary judgement and thinks we've got a real good shot! (optimism)
>it was denied and the lawyer is asking for payment! (pessimism)
>we're going to depose everyone from the company next week! yeah let's stick it to them! (optimism)
>I can't believe it! he fucking lied all through out that deposition! he "can't recall" ? what the fuck?! (pessimism)
>my attorney wants payment again!
>OK here we go! Trial time! It's right around the corner!
>They filed ANOTHER continuance?! WHAT THE FUCK?!

And that's BEFORE you even make it to the first trial before any appeals or the execution of the judgement which is practically a trial unto itself.

Truth. But that is the risk and frustration I'm willing to take on. Actually, it's going to be even more hellish since I'll have to do all this pro se (can't afford an attorney, can't find pro-bono representation, and no attorney's will take disability discrimination cases on contingency)

Then let me ask you an honest question: Do you think it matters?

Do you think that if you're able to talk openly about this one case, anything will change? You can still advocate for disabled workers. You just can't talk about THIS case.

Shit, take your $100,000 and I bet you can do more for disabled workers than whatever you think "talking openly" about it can do. Go lobby congress. Start your own organization.

You need to get over whatever sense of "pride" or "dignity" is overriding the rational part of your brain. Pride and dignity becomes hubris at a certain point, and friend, you're there

I think you're making an incredibly foolish decision, but you're the one who needs to live with it...

If you're determined to do this thing, then my advice to you is this: make the law library your new home and bring lots and lots of quarters for all the copies you're going to be making. I hope you like to read.

And templates. There are templates online for many of the motions you'll be filing. (You'll need to modify them of course.)

Learn courtroom procedure and keep a calendar because you only have a certain amount of time to file/answer motions. Keep a real close eye on dates.

You're going to have your hands full, man. I just don't see this going well for you. Not even attorneys represent themselves. (Well, some do, but not many, not in cases like this.)

Take the cash, spend it all, and let the world know anyway.

Pride is weakness of character because it fucks your ability to behave rationally. Ask yourself about the outcomes, not about the abstract 'should'.

Yes, THIS case could make a difference. The company clearly when well out of there way to fire me over my disability when I was a preforming employee with a great performance reviews and no disciplinary issues.

I have strong evidence to show that the employer out right lied about the pretextual reasons for my termination.

The HR president purgered himself at least twice in making recorded statements under oath to the EEOC that is contradicted by other sworn statements of his subordinates and company documents.

This company when way way out their way to screw me over, and this is only what happened recently. This case can be used to show how current disability law fails, and how reasonable changes would have made all the difference.

Wait a minute...

You don't think this is the first ever case of its kind, do you?

You don't think that you're the first one to ever take their case all the way to trial, right?

... You know what? Go for it! I'm behind you, OP! Stick it to the man!

>holy shit this guy's retarded

Fucking THIS

There's pride, and then there's hubris...

No, I think 99.9% of all strong cases get settled out of court with confidentiality agreements. The cases that are questionable go to court and are poor examples of the actual discrimination taking place.

So when there is discussion on this topic, it is usually around very muddy cases. Not the cases where the employee was unquestionably screwed over.

I have been dealing with shit from this company from the moment I first got sick. I filed an complaint with the EEOC years ago, and they didn't do anything. It wasn't until I was actually fired that they finally took notice.

Yeah, maybe I'm delusional and retrarded. Maybe this one case won't make a difference at all. And perhaps my life is meaningless as well, but that isn't justification to give up now. I'll fight and die tired, rather then sell out and live in shame.

are you non-english or is your disability language related?

What company?

My disability is physical/medical (i.e. autoimmune illness)

But yes, I am also dyslexic (with a number of documented leaning disabilities).

take the money you idget!!!

>dyslexic
>letter of the law
>isn't sure what letter

You'd better have someone proof-read EACH AND EVERY motion/brief you file. If you screw up a single thing, it can LITERALLY cost you the case.

"Yeah, I knew what you meant..."
Said no judge ever.

Tell them you're willing to take the $100,000 for the damn good reference you deserve.

take the money

When this company sees that the dyslexic, always-sick employee they fired is representing himself with his own name misspelled on the amended lawsuit, they're going to laugh themselves into outright hysterics and then go out for drinks to celebrate a sure-win

Dude, you're fucking retarded. Go kill yourself.

Yeah, I agree. I worked as a Data Analyst before being terminated. I understand the low probabilities and how perception will negatively effect this case.

The other posters are right. Hubris may be my down fall here. I appreciate that feed back. The alternative, however, makes me sick to my stomach. I think I could live with loosing out on the $100k (it would really suck, but I'll be okay), I don't know if I could live with myself if I sold out at this point. Living the rest of my life with a story that I feel I need tell but can't (not to spite my former employer, but because it's something I am passionate about).

Financially gain and be part of the problem or risk everything and be part of the solution (even if just a little bit)?

... and this will solve what exactly?

Step 1) Get screwed over
Step 2) Start to fight back
Step 3) Kill yourself b/c annon told you to
Step 4) ????
Step 5) Profit

Look, I didn't make you read this post. If your annoyed, fine - go fuck off somewhere else.

If you disagree with me, fine - tell me why, I am looking for other plps points of view.