r/ProtectHire

Two weeks ago, I gave two weeks' notice after they denied my request for a raise. I'm responsible for reporting and data processing through a custom-built system that's complicated to use, and I'm the only person here who knows the entire workflow. I've been making around $18 an hour for four years, and each year my raise has only been about 25 cents.

I asked for my pay to be increased to $24 an hour, and they offered me $19.25. When I gave my manager my resignation letter, he told me the raise they offered was bigger than all the raises I'd received before combined. Then he told me my resignation wasn't accepted and acted like the matter was settled.

Almost every day since then, I reminded him that Friday would be my last day. His response was always that my leaving would cause major problems for the other employees and cost the company a lot of money. He also said we could discuss my pay again in a few months, but that I had to remain available to train the person who would replace me.

A few times, he implied that if I refused to help them after I left, they might take legal action against me. Yesterday, I didn't argue with him. I finished my shift, cleared out my desk, and went home.

This morning, I woke up to 11 missed calls from him. I didn't answer any of them. I sent a copy of my resignation to HR six days ago and no one responded, so there really isn't any way they can take legal action against me over this, right?

I'm 63 years old, and I lost my job as an administrative manager about a year ago. I was making a little over $100,000, and I had worked there for so long that I thought my experience would be valuable.
I take care of myself, and most people think I'm younger than I am, but after eight months, around 190 applications, and a series of interviews that went nowhere, I accepted a job with much lower pay. They also saddled me with responsibilities that were never mentioned when I was hired. I don't like the job, but leaving isn't an option.
A few weeks ago, a company I'd been keeping an eye on finally posted an opening that matched my experience. I have a friend who works there, so I applied, and they contacted me the next morning. I didn't get that particular role, but the people who interviewed me said another position would be opening soon and that they thought I would be a better fit for it.
They spoke to my friend afterward and got an excellent reference from him, and apparently told him they intended to offer me the new role. They told me to wait until it was posted online and then apply through HR instead of sending everything directly to the office. That's exactly what I did.
Then the communication stopped. When I followed up a few days later, they told me they were still working out the details, even though the listing had already been public for more than a week. The following week, I received a brief email saying they had decided to go in a different direction.
I can't prove that my age was the reason, but nothing else had changed. They liked me in the interview, my experience was a good fit, and they had already told someone inside the company that an offer was coming. As soon as HR had all my information, the whole thing suddenly ended.
So I'm still stuck in a job I can't stand, applying elsewhere without much confidence. People may say age discrimination isn't a major problem in hiring, but after what I've seen over the past year, I no longer believe that.