Reply to Big Law - HR meeting out of the blue

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd update your resume and put out some feelers to recruiters, OP.

How were your billables? [/quote]

[b]Low billables.[/b] But the market has been slow for our group in general. [/quote]
I wouldn’t keep riding on the good performance review from last year.

How does your firm normally handle performance issues? Is it multiple warnings/a PIP? Or immediate separation?[/quote]

Law firms aren't like this.  If there isn't enough work to support the associates on staff, they will fire some until there is a better matching of supply/demand.  You can be totally competent, even well liked associate. But if there's not enough work, and the firm predicts the downturn will last, then you still have a high chance of layoff.  Firms took too long in 2008 to react to the sudden downturn, and figured out they needed to be quicker - so now assume they will make firing decisions within 3 months of a slowdown.  They'll do this even if you're a good lawyer - but they'll pick the least busy associate to lay off, because that is just a general indication of how much partners need/like the associate.

If you're a bad associate, you also don't get a warning - they will just let you go with severance.

[b]OP - i would be surprised that they wouldn't give you more of a 3 month runway to come back after leave and get your feet back on the ground. It's very normal to take a while for work to pick back up. And it's not good optics to fire new moms.  [/b]But how were your hours before leave?  Had you been cruising a bit and already seen as one of the lesser focused associates?

BUt with all that said, in my 17 years in biglaw, I have never heard of an associate or non-equity partner having a meeting asked for by HR where it wasn't to be let go.  [/quote]
Like you said, if there’s not enough work, they’ll fire people. If OP is not meeting their target, then they’ll be in the pool to be fired. Coming back from leave doesn’t exempt you from billing targets unless you have an accommodation that could reduce the target.[/quote]
Assuming you used FMLA leave, maybe you can get evidence together for a FMLA retaliation lawsuit. Did underperforming comparators who did not take protected leave also get called to a meeting with HR? At least may be some leverage in a severance negotiation. For those of you who are thinking a Big Law firm would be savvy enough not to violate federal law, it's happened...[/quote]
And before anyone comes at me, if OP can establish a prima facie case of retaliation, the burden then shifts to Big Law to establish a non-retaliatory, legitimate business reason for its adverse employment action. OP then has the burden to show that Big Law's stated non-retaliatory reason is pretextual, which OP could attempt to do by showing that others who did not meet billiables but who did not take protected leave were not subjected to adverse employment actions.[/quote]

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