I worked for Freedom Mortgage since April, and was switched to the Jefferson Mortgage division in November. During this time, Freedom bought out another mortgage company and was growing rapidly. The employees were told at a company event in October that we were one of the stongest growing mortgage companies in the nation. The owner went on to say how we were his 2nd family, and how the aquisition would have never happened without all of our help.
Things were going good until I was called into a meeting on Dec. 5th and was informed Freedom was laying off approx. 20-30 people due to "downsizing". There was not enough growth that the company was expecting, so in turn, they eliminated postions due to hire dates.
The meeting was held by an HR rep and my manager. The owner was not present to deliver the bad news to his "family" or to answer questions, in fact, he actually left the building before the lay offs took place.
What was strange though, is that some people who were with the company only 3-4 weeks were kept on. After asking why, it was explained that they were in a different pay scale then us. Simply put, they kept the people who did the same work for less money.
Freedom offered no severance money, no pay for unused vacation time, and no chance to be considered for any other position in the company. The big advantage explained to us is that Freedom was not going to fight us getting unemployment, and that we would be off for the holidays.
After the meeting, I gathered my belongings, thanked my manager for the opportunity, and went on with my life.
15 days after being let go, I got a phone call from Freedom Mortgage. It was a salesman asking me if I wanted to refinance my mortgage with them. I asked him if his company was doing any hiring. He replied that they were growing and were currently hiring for processors, underwriters, and sales. Being stunned by this, I informed him I was layed off 15 days ago and was astonished that they were rehiring again. I asked to speak to his manager and he HUNG UP on me.
I called back and spoke to the front desk asking if they were hiring. The girl replied yes, and asked if I wanted to speak to HR. After getting the run around, I finally spoke to the head of HR. He explained that he wasn't really involved in the hiring and was not sure why the owner didn't try and fill some positions internally. When I asked for the spelling of his last name, he informed me if anyone else asked him about this subject, he would deny our conversation ever took place. What is he hiding?
I am not trying to create issues or problems for Freedom, I just want to inform the public and possible customers about what this company really stands for. While the owner, Stan, is deciding whether to drive his Range Rover or his Aston Martin to work, there are 20-30 ex-Freedom employees trying to figure out how to pay the bills or buy holiday presents. With laying us off 3 weeks before the holiday's, he could have authorized 1-2 weeks severance, paying us our unused vacation time, or some form of financial help. But he didn't. Is this how you treat "family"?
I would have never written this if Freedom didn't call to try and sell me and get even more money out of me. What kind of person would lay off employees and then try and gain business from these people going through hardships? The answer is the owner of Freedom Mortgage.
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