So, a few weeks ago it was announced that the school system that I work for here in Atlanta was having some budget problems, and was going to lay off a bunch of personnel (officially called Reduction in Force or RIF). Fine.
Seeing as how I've been employed here for five years (but only two in a row, ever, and this time, less than one year), I braced myself for the bad news. I would have time to make some tough decisions, look for another job, whatever. Mind you, this was in March or so, when in January the kind people from my old school in Guadalajara had contacted me and asked if I'd wanted to come back. I would have been in charge of the libraries there (and they are also giving every student and teacher a mac laptop). I told them no thank you, I'm happy here in Atlanta for now--the job is going well and blah blah blah. Two months later, and this!
So in March I get the news that I'm probably going to be RIF'd on x date. So that date comes, and goes, and I've received no registered letter, no email, no notice whatsoever. I even ask my principal and county library coordinator about my status, and they've not seen my name on any list or connected in any way with the RIF. I was stressed out big-time, and had been looking at job listings, both in the U.S. and not. When the date came and went with no news, I thought only the best--that I hadn't been RIF'ed, and that the worst thing that could happen is that they'd reassign me to another school.
Then TODAY, the contracts for everyone came out. I bopped into the office to ask for mine, but it was not there! What?? So I talk to the principal, and he makes some calls. I talk to the county library coordinator, and she makes some calls. The HR person we needed to talk to was 'in a meeting' but the secretary said that they are investigating my case, and that it seemed that I was supposed to have received a RIF letter. But that they had to check more fully.
The kicker is that teachers (and I) have only 10 days to sign their contracts, or they are considered 'resigned'. I don't want to resign. So I wrote to the HR person, and copied the whole world, asking where, oh wherever could my contract be? Since I'd received no RIF letter (nor my principal, nor my coordinator), that contract for next year must be lost somewhere, perhaps sent to another school, and that I'd like to sign it as soon as possible.
By the end of the day, still no news. So what do I do now? Suggestions are welcome. I've heard through the grapevine that this also happened to a couple of teachers at another school, and that they are considering a lawsuit. Do we have a case? Or, alternately, do you have a job for me?
