Health Market Sciences breaks law, sues employee

[giza]

Yep, it really happened. The company Health Market Sciences of King of Prussia, PA, sued Chip Salzenberg (of Perl fame). Police raided his home and confiscated every computer, CD, and DVD they could find. The man's livelihood has essentially been destroyed because he told his employer that they were breaking the law.

For those who are interested in helping out, Rich has set up a site at geeksunite.net. It's a bit Slashdotted right now, so give it a couple of days. :-)

I also posted MY story with those clowns on Slashdot, and I figured I would repost it here.

My name is Douglas Muth, and I live not too far from King of Prussia, PA.

Back in 2001, I was laid off from my previous job and looking for work. I interviewed with Health Market Sciences sometime around that July for a Software Engineer position, and it was an interesting experience. I met some of the people from that company and was finally interviewed by one of the Vice Presidents, a guy by the name of Rich Ferris. Rich seemed pretty impressed with my resume and said something to the effect of "we'll get you an offer by the end of the day".

So, I went home and gave Rich a call at the end of the day. But suddenly his story changed, and it was, "I had problems getting the offer through HR (or somesuch), I'll have one for you on Wednesday".

Wednesday came, and I was told, by Rich, to call back again on Friday. Friday came, and they were having money issues and would get back to me on Wednesday. Finally, next Wednesday rolls around and I'm suddenly told, "Well, we really want to hire you, but we don't have the money right now, so we cannot make you an offer".

So what it boiled down to is that I was led on by that company for over a week with the promise of employment, only to have it yanked out from me because they didn't have their stuff together. It was a total waste of my time, and the time of the job recruiter I was working with. If they didn't have the money, they shouldn't have been hiring in the first place. The whole experience left me rather bitter.

I hope Chip sues that company into oblivian.

Comments

Step1 : Call a lawyer.

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

That is why when you have evidence your employer is breaking the law, you first get a good attorney and then go to the authorities. If you do that, you're protected under whistleblower laws. The police have a duty to protect you.

If you just tell your employer they are crooks, they might seek retribution. by filing false charges against you. In the end they will be held liable, but until then the police also have the duty to protect them and investigate and/or arrest you.

[taral.livejournal.com]

Apparently a motion for sanctions was already filed. :)

[giza.livejournal.com]

I'm not a lawyer. What exactly does that mean?

[taral.livejournal.com]

Whenever someone abuses the court's processes, the affected party can file a motion for sanctions, basically asking that the transgressing party be forced to pay some monetary or other recompense for the damage. If you get sanctions, you also usually get costs, too, which is good.

[zorinlynx.livejournal.com]

He really should have gone to the authorities, not his boss.

I mean, think about it.. Say you work for the mob, and notice that they're up to illegal activities. So you E-mail the mob boss saying "I know you're doing illegal things, and I'm morally against it. You should stop or I'll contact the authorities."

What do you think the mob boss will do? Suddenly feel remorse for his crimes and go straight? No! He'll have someone "bust a cap in your ass"!

While I feel bad for the predicament Chip is in, he could have handled this situation a bit more intelligently. I hope he gets out of this without too much financial loss, of course.

-Z

[lionmage.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's funny, I saw your comment posted in Slashdot yesterday, and that's what prompted me to check your journal today.

I totally sympathize with Chip. Unfortunately, he tried to handle a situation by sending a memo directly to his employer about their activities rather than going directly to the authorities, and he got slapped with a bogus lawsuit for his trouble. Normally, I would try to resolve a dispute directly with someone before calling in a third party to mediate, but in a case like this, a clearly unrepentant criminal organization can't be trusted to reciprocate the consideration that one might extend to them.