I was with Averitt for almost ten years in various divisions of the company. The last six were spent in the Time Critical or Expedited division. For the most part, Averitt was a decent company to work for. It is, however, a man's world.
I was terminated for doing something that was not listed in the handbook, and there was no written policy against. There was never a verbal or written warning given to me, nor was I casually asked not to. I was friends with another employee (We'll call him Bob) who left the company to work for a competitor. The very next day, I was terminated for having spoken with him. There was no mention of any customer name, me going to work for "Bob's" new company, nothing that would warrant any type of discipline. (And their evidence came from listening in on a conversation with my husband where I mentioned that I had spoken with him earlier in the day away from work.)
Its an at-will state, so there is no law broken there. However, they were aware that another male employee had spoken with "Bob" as well since he left and they did nothing to him. Since I had nothing in my file for being written up and had excellent performance remarks in my reviews, I can only deduce that I was fired because of my sex.
Luckily, the State of Tennessee UI adjudicator gave me a nice letter explaining Averitt could provide no evidence of wrong-doing, nor intent of wrong-doing so I am eligible for UI. That will help clear up some questions in interviews about why I left the company. However, it does not replace my dignity of being let go impromptu, my income, or clear my name after the lies that were told afterward. It also does not give me back the money I spent to replace a broken employee ID badge just before being terminated, or the money that went into the department Christmas party fund (which I was not invited to, but donated to every week for a full nine months.)
I just wonder if there are other women out there who have bumped their heads on Averitt's glass ceiling, or who have fallen victim to their termination tactics where it was not only invalid and against their own practices listed in the handbook, but down right malicious and ethically questionable.
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