melusine_fea

Hello,

my situation, and questions:

in Germany, there will be a workforce reduction operation soon. I am not at risk myself, but my move to US would mean that someone else does not get laid off. My manager has asked me strongly to consider the offer.

My German company wants to send me in US with a L-1B visa to become a local hire, with a local US contract. At the same time, I will have to resign from my German position. Is this a sensible thing to do? I am very much afraid of the at-will clause in the contract.

As a plus, I get an interesting job, and a good salary.
As a minus: the at-will clause and the risks of a bad economy... also I have to forgo my rights to unemployment benefits in Germany

My questions:
1. In the event of a layoff in US, how is my situation, given that I have no position to get back to in Germany?
2. What is the difference between "probation" and at-will contract for a L-1B holder? At the beginning they wanted me to accept a 6 months probation. I refused, but the difference is not clear to me.

Thanks
Federica

MsElui

if you are made redundant whilst on the L1b visa - then you will have to leave the USA as you wont have a valid basis for staying. You should make sure that the costs of returning to Germany are INCLUDED in the contract they offer you - at the end of the visa period or if the job disappears. Even better would be to get them to add into the contract that they will pay for and process a green card application for you - within a specified time (ie 6 months of starting). once you get a GC you dont have to leave the US if you lose your job.

Also get them to look into a L1A visa which is better than a L1B visa when it comes to getting a Green card (ie can be much faster).

Have you examined the local contract yet? The us tradionally has much fewer annual leave days and sick days than Britain (and I would guess Germany) so you may have some room to negotiate the local contract UP on those points. Check also the redundancy payments as this is usually quite poor in the us.

I would try and get out of any probation period. They are asking you to make the move and you wont have a role to go back to so your taking the risk here.

melusine_fea

Thanks for the advise!

I do not know about redundancy payments in US. I guess these are not regulated by law, but decided between the parties? What would be a reasonable thing to ask? three months, or maybe six?

In Germany, as unemployment benefit one gets 12 months at 66% of the final net salary.

The annual leave days are OK. What do you mean by "sick days"? there is no mention of them in the contract, Paid Time Off is the only term defined.

Regards

Federica

Folinskyinla

Hi:

US employment law is so different from European employment law that it is not funny. It is a totally different mind set. It should be noted that ALL employment in the US is essentially "at will" -- even in the face of a contract, one can be fired and the only liability of the employer might be for salary. Union contracts often alter the equation somewhat.

I have no real idea of German law -- however, I note a general knowledge that employment rights in Germany have caused problems when the economy is flush because the companies cannot easily expand a work force since they might be stuck with them when the company no longer needs them.

You are right to carefully look into this.

Awesome Welles

The 'six-month probation' bit would worry me. Are they saying, 'We wish to transfer you to a sister company in the US. You will forego all of your rights to a re-hire in Germany - and you will have to demonstrate to the US company that you are good enough to remain employed by them after a six month probationary period". Is that what they are proposing?
I think it would be totally unreasonable for your employer to encourage you to relocate and then expect you to subject yourself to ANY length of probationary period. You are making a massive commitment - the least they can do is make a similar commitment to you.

melusine_fea

Got an answer from the HR manager, he will remove the probation thing from the contract.

I also asked him about the "sick days" and to include the Gren Card sponsorship in the contract.

I have also asked about a redundancy packge, but I doubt this will go ahead

The German work contracts are very good, this is true. In order to incentivate hiring, the overtime and holidays are strictly regulated. People cannot easily work more than 40hours a week, even if they want, and each holiday actually taken brings home an extra 30% salary. The workforce reduction exercise ongoing now has been developing at snail pace for more than four months, it will be six months in total before it's finished... just in time for another financial report.

Because of all these advantages, it is considered very unwise to end up without a job. A former MP a few years ago (a woman over 50) lost her Parliament seat, could not find a proper employment and eventually had to resort to cleaning jobs to survive... she wrote a book about her experience, afterwards.

Bluegrass Lass

This just really shows me that I am working in the wrong country. I wish I could only work 40hrs/wk - that would be a dream.

meauxna

It did occur to me to ask if he wanted to trade...

Reminds me of when the French air traffic controllers went on strike over a proposed mandatory 35 hour work week (was too much).
As IF.

melusine_fea

Hello again,

I am at the decision point, finally:
my L-1B visa is in the passport,
my flight to US is booked for this coming Saturday,
my new job starts next Monday, 07:30.

I need to decide whether to take it or not. I have time until Friday afternoon.

Reading this forum is at times amusing, always very interesting. As expected, I am not the only L-1B person here about to be dumped from Europe in the land of the "at-will" contracts. My personal feeling is that my employment in US will last just 5 months, right up to the end of the probation period... if I take it.

I still have not resigned from the German company, though... the Americans keep saying that they really need me to join them, they need expert engineers. The Germans need to get rid of me before the 31st of August, to satisfy the conditions of the headcount reduction. The whole company, including the plants in US, is very much on sale, if only a buyer could be found. The red hole is huge!

For me, this will be at least an experience: a very dangerous adventure with some fun and very low expectations about stability. It would be so much easier to move to US, had I not committed to pay a mortgage in UK!

Anyway:

If I stay in Germany, they cannot lay me off, but I will have to work shifts with very unfriendly managers. Of course, I'll have to find another job ASAP. (I am already hunting, anyway)

If I move to US, there will be no formal ties between the two employments, they will be completely independent. The German termination contract is absolutely neutral, as if I were resigning for whatever reason, not because they push me to join the US branch.

A question for the lawyers. There is this clause: "implementation of this agreement resolves and settles all claims resulting from the employment relationship, irrespective of their legal basis, from its ending and for the period following its ending". Is it still possible to claim excessive pressure and unfair treatment after signing this, or not?

Regards

Federica

meauxna

I'm no lawyer, but that definitely read to me like it is NOT possible to claim anything after you sign that.