Speak to an attorney - employment law varies by state, and a lawyer can give you the best advice about how to proceed. Keep in mind that quitting vs. getting laid off because your position is no longer viable can mean the difference between getting severance, unemployment, maybe paid benefits for a while, an agreed upon letter of recommendation, vacation pay, etc. Just as you are an expert in interaction design, they probably have attorneys on retainer that are advising them about keeping their severance/unemployment costs down. You'll need to proceed with expert guidance through the various pathways and roadblocks.
Good luck, Marilyn On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 12:29 AM, Acuity Corp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I work in-house as an interaction designer in a technical industry. I am a > senior employee. The company has a massive customer base, and lack of > design is their core problem. I am the interaction designer, and there is > a visual designer I hire on contract. This year, I have laid out full > design plans for next generation products to be made until 2010. > > I'm now told that they are *"changing their philosophy."* They want to > work > in a more "agile" fashion with all developers doing the design and working > with customers. I don't believe that. I am sure they want to downsize by > 1. They are targeting cost-savings with a designer versus a developer, as > they are in a build-it phase and not a heavy design phase for at least 2 > years. > > Get this. They have offered me a job as an entry level developer bug > fixing an older product (which I also designed), not even for the new > generation products. I last did software programming 8 years ago. > Interaction designer to entry level developer. This is constructive > dismissal (the legal term for the switcheroo). They want me to quit (well > duh, but it took me a while to believe this since I wouldn't in a million > years fire me or someone like me :)) > > I find this unreal because > - product managers are fully planning to use my design plans for the > forseeable future (2 years) , so their "philosophy change" is patently a > lie > - I never thought I'd have to argue that design is a specialized skillset > to > the company that desperately wanted these skills > - I was consciously trading benefits of being an entrepreneur for the > stability of in-house work (albeit with less pay) > > > What am I looking for? > > - Advice from someone who has dealt with constructive dismissal or with > such > a situation. > - Advice on how I might "proove" that interaction design and developer is > not the same role if this ever gets to court. My employer may argued that > interaction design is just the upfront part of coding so it is a realistic > job change. > > thanks, > Norman > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
