unless on a contract basis, the paperwork you signed as an employee is simply an agreement that has very little weight in a court of law.
My situation...
I signed an agreement with a company to work 12 hour shifts three days a week (36 hours). The pay was crappy but I took it because I was faced with notion of long term unemployment (with benefits ending soon). I negotiated that shift to allow me to take a second job that I had already brewing in the background. The paperwork I signed specifically stated the 12 hour 3 days a week workweek. Two years later, they changed my schedule forcing me to work 10 hours, 4 days a week.. squeezing me out of an additional 4 hours per week. Oh and I had to take the same salary and suck it up. It would have forced me to pay additional days on daycare AND end my second job. I took the signed agreement to HR and they basically said the paper was garbage and good luck in court. I took it through another individual who explained to me the whole "at will" clause and concluded that the agreement was worth nothing. I was left with two choices: Suck it up or Quit. That's basically the extent of "real" worker rights in the U.S... protection from servitude. Oh yes.. you can fight for other so called "rights" but for what? To go broke in legal fees and work a job as a disgruntled employee.
That same individual also pointed out the rather strange move by the company to change their employees of a certain function from non-exempt status (I had worked for the same company prior as non-exempt) to exempt/salaried a few years prior. As hourly employees, you are working hours.. no more .. no less. You don't have the flexibility of work schedule BUT you have the right to extra compensation if you work afterhours or extra hours. As an exempt/salary employee the company isn't under any obligation for that extra compensation... you are essentially paid to do a function. On the other hand, this company made it clear that it was part of you function to be there for the customer during your assigned "time" at work. So they managed to create an environment in which the employees enjoy none of the advantages of hourly employment nor salaried employment.... but you get all the disadvantages of both types.
That experience among other things that occured during the early 2000s made me realize that corporate america is a very ugly place. Its why leaving a "cool" boss in a tough position because you just simply quite seems like a really crappy thing to do... a good, fair, and thoughtful boss is a luxury many don't enjoy.
PS> wtf is wrong with companies who require references for employement BUT they themselves say its against company policy to give references out.
