SkyGrid, a new aggregation startup that is preparing to launch a free version of its product, has an angry ex-employee on its hands named Sara Parker.
Parker, a “Process and Documentation Specialist” at the company from August 2008 to December 2008 according to her LinkedIn Profile, says via Twitter that “after discovering baaad things about management team, i gave notice.” The next day, she says, she was fired without severance.
Some of the Twitter messages she wrote are more of a rant than anything. But she does trash her boss, the VP Engineering, as a “notoriously poor communicator” and that his “challenges directly interfered with the quality of the product.”
Normally when we see this stuff, we contact the company and hear a different side of the story. This time, though, the company didn’t return our request for comment, but shortly afterward Parker’s Twitter account went private.
We’re not too concerned about the specifics of Parker’s situation, but this may be a sign that the upcoming product isn’t what it could have been, or that it is being delayed. If anyone has details, let us know.
Hi Mike, I am surprise that Techcrunch gives so much coverage to a angry employee complaining about his/her boss. Why did you decide to give her so much credibility ?: “but this may be a sign that the upcoming product isn’t what it could have been, or that it is being delayed”.
C’mon man. It’s no brainer. Michael will write anything about Twitter.
No, seriously. I was thinking the very same thing. After reading every single Twitter entry I am still baffled as to why this was covered.
Wait a minute, why are you entitled to a severance package if you put in your two week notice?
By law, if you put in your two weeks notice in writing then the employer is required to at least pay you for those two weeks whether they want you around to work or not. So when she was “laid off” they at the least legally owed her those two weeks of salary. That is unless they can provide documentation that they had decided to lay her off prior to her resignation. Then they don’t owe her squat.
Evan
I am no lawyer but when I read that Evan said
“By law, if you put in your two weeks notice in writing then the employer is required to at least pay you for those two weeks whether they want you around to work or not.”
I said to myself “really, that’s not what I remember” and in fact, just for the record, it is not accurate. See the State of CA’s Website at: http://www.dir....FAQ_Paydays.htm.
From the FAQ there:
“9. Q. I just gave my employer two weeks advance notice that I was quitting. Instead of letting me work until the date of my resignation, he told me that I was discharged, and instructed me to collect my personal belongings and leave. Upon leaving he gave me a check for all wages earned up through my last hour of work. Am I entitled to be paid for the time that I gave notice? Additionally, when must my final wages be paid?
A. You are not entitled to any wages for the notice period because you did not perform any work during that period. For the purpose of wage payments, your employer changed a quit into a discharge, and all of your earned wages became due and payable immediately at the time he terminated you.”
Perhaps Evan lives in a state that has a different rule, but in California it seems pretty clear that you are not entitled to two weeks severance if you are discharged/fired upon giving notice of your intent to quit.
Sounds like they did her a big favor by laying her off: If she quit she couldn’t get unemployment…
And who gets a severance package after quitting?
the power of social media. she should have been way more careful about making public comments on twitter. I don’t know and don’t care who’s right in this issue, but I know she did something wrong.
Not good for Skygrid… Not good for Sarah either.. This can go on to become an example of how Twitter can make or break a product or a career.
Don’t forget to add that TechCrunch factor
It’s fine sensationalistic journalism, but it’s not going to affect anyone’s career or any company’s product. Fun read though
Communication {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/Fr8psJ0ANK_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Communication ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/95by6E86TO”}}}
Could be Mike’s giving this air time because the company seems to have chosen not to respond. maybe we can give ‘em another day? I have a feeling that they’ll respond soon.
Startup execs who don’t communicate (can’t manage people). Now there’s a newsflash, why do you think they always want self-starters to work for them?
Bitching like this does not speak good about your personal qualities, you know. And having access to public channels also involves some responsibility.
Totally out of context…but is anyone having problems logging into Gmail?
Ouch, somebody’s gonna lose a bunch of job opportunities, since any potential hire is googled to death nowadays. Nobody wants to hire anybody who would trash them publicly should they fail to be perfect.
And what was the point of doing that, pray tell? Nobody’s gonna give a flying kcuf: either the product will rock, or it won’t. You never know whom you’re gonna meet again in the future. Always take the high road.
I agree with Ivailo – it don’t sound or look good.
yes, this is no so much good for his nice for him. like i can not believe this for much.
I dare anyone to hire Sara.
“My role limited to updating .xls files” – Sara Parker, Jan 23, 2009
Something tells me that her next role will be significantly more limited.
Every company has its troubles, random stupidity and communication problems. Every employee has a choice – some will fight, some will quit, some will just hang in there and hope for a change.
And some will quit, and then proceed to damage the company from the outside, with no gain whatsoever for themselves.
“My role limited to updating .xls files” – Sara Parker, Jan 23, 2009
I think that if people have issues in a company, they must be confronted, but if the company is unwilling to resolve the situation, and instead opt to take an easy, and cowardly road… Then they deserve to be bashed about…
Its funny to see on their homepage, that “We’re hiring”.. LOL!!
why does TC report about this nonsense and doesn’t this lady realize she just sealed her fate as unemployable?
Well never commented on the qualify of the posts here. But this one is total Bull$. Can’t resist to write about it.
Mike please it’s your blog and I know it’s not a democracy. But this TC don’t need stories on the rants of a fired employee.
+1 to this. Bushleague.
appears that she rightfully deserved her severance. i bet the company now regrets that they were not professional with her termination. there are places for companies that abuse basic worker rights.
JackassLocator.com – find them before they find you
TrollLocator.com
Sash said…
lady realize she just sealed her fate as unemployable?
That’s the problem who joined gossip services like twitter, facebook, etc… They feel important to join these services and look at what happened to this poor woman.
I am amazed at how gullible people to expose themselves (including private informations) in public for every one to see.
Not too smart to do this with your personal twitter account. There are better, more secure ways to trash a company anonymously you had worked for. Message boards, etc, while using an account not identifiable to others.
Why should she remain anonymous? If the company is crap, that will play out and she’ll not look bad. I have a feeling that everybody saying that she’s “unemployable” now (laugh) are people who would be the kind of bad manager that underlings should trash publicly. There are many charlatans in the industry, and if you can’t accept that then you are likely under the same spell.
Read the comments in the linked announcement here on TC (first link in this post). $11MM = 100 customers.
Since when do you get severance when you give notice? Is she talking about the 2 weeks’ pay she thought she was going to get?
As far as laying her off as soon as she gave notice, who wants a rotten apple hanging around the place for 2 weeks, infecting the others?
Nothing to see here, move on.
Some of you folks are a little silly. She may be totally right about SkyGrid — they may be a terrible company. Why is she without credibility for complaining?
Really? You’re willing to have a full story about this, but feel the need to censor similar comments about that other company with the personal assistant?
A former employee from the company I work at uses her Twitter to slam my company all the time…but at least she does it in a thinly veiled way and doesn’t name names.
Hmm – this is one stupid woman who does not know employment policy. Once you give your employer notice, they are under no obligation to keep you even more more day beyond the day you are there. This woman should get a clue.
Plus – i would never hire her, she seems like a typical disgruntled worker
exactly.
Two weeks notice does not mean you automatically keep your job for the next two weeks. It sounds like her employers decided she wasn’t worth keeping around and asked her to leave.
You don’t get severance pay when you quick!
Duh.
This is a prime example of why I don’t use Twitter. Sometimes what you blurt out is not the best thing to make as public knowledge.
I am a small angel investor in the company and I have never heard of this person. Not clear to me why she think she deserves severance if she is quitting of her own volition.
BTW, I am using the “new product” and I can attest that it’s very cool and works as advertised. They’ve added in some advanced real-time clustering technology with the new release and there’s nothing like it in the market. No idea if was released late because I don’t know what the original dev schedule was but it is released.
i 2nd bill’s opinion, i’m also a user…i mean addict
i also believe they want to avoid the “cuil effect”…too much hype, not able to scale, disappointment to users. this team is smart and willing to do what it takes not to disappoint.
Mad cow disease is still with us. Unfortunately, no vaccines yet.
I freaking love gossip every once in awhile. It’s effective. It made me check TechCrunch today.
“We’re not too concerned about the specifics of Parker’s situation, but this may be a sign that the upcoming product isn’t what it could have been, or that it is being delayed. If anyone has details, let us know.”
That’s all up to the devs, not some manager.
She’s an idiot for whining about it in public. Now every search engine will bring up this article with her name on it.
smart!
Sara evidently doesn’t get that 1) when relegated to updating .xls files, her days were probably numbered, 2) one typically doesn’t get severance when they quit, 3) trashing her (ex-) employer in public (and getting the transcripts published on TC) is a surefire career-limiting move, and 4) no one except her cat and her mom really care.
Feel free to provide examples where this behavior has resulted in limited career options. Translation: shenanigans.
I feel the last 2 comments are harsh. She didn’t whine about it to a large audience, Mike Arrington took her local post to her friends and made it global.
“1) when relegated to updating .xls files”
I know people that make 200k+ updating .xls files. There are LOTS of them. LOTS and LOTS, and LOTS of them.
It think it is odd that Techcrunch would include a Twitter rant when there are much bigger fish to fry in the valley. I also respect Bill Burnham and his perspective much more than a QA engineer with very little pedigree. I know the personnel (and product) company very well, and this is a young, but quality group that has built an amazing product. they will definitely create some solid (positive) buzz this spring. BTW – Sara Parker has Lynn Starr group as her current employer. I don’t think the Lynn Starr Group will be getting a lot of business as a result of this rant. Not sure I would direct my business to someone that appears very unstable. Good luck SkyGrid, and don’t let this ruffle your feathers.
must be what happens when a hot company won’t talk to techcrunch…every lil’ bit of sensationalism takes on a life of its own…unfortunate. maybe, finally, silicon valley has its own version of the national inquirer…it’s called techcrunch
I have seen the product, not available to the public yet, and it is very cool. Skygrid is run by young guys dealing with a hot product funded by some powerful vcs. Give them a break, they are learning, but seem very well intentioned. I think people will quickly forget about the unnecessary bitching when they see the product.
News Flash – Don’t hire me, I am a whiner!
Signed
Sara Parker
Her LinkedIn job description of her role at SkyGrid does not align with her Twitter description of her role. Which one is correct?
TC just made sure she will never get hired in this town.. scratch that.. on this earth ever again.
As a startup I always google all potential employees.
let me tell ya, this woman fucked up big time, I would never hire her, not even to clean the bathrooms.
I feel enlightened for having read this post.
If you’re going to get TechCrunched for having a sook about your employer online, at least have the balls to actually spell out what was wrong with them.
In the meantime Sara, welcome to perpetual unemployment.
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Michael thanks – sure is nice to know there are folks out there with your take on life. I’m sure she learned a thing or two about the wild wild web. Sounded a lot more like a rant than an expose – definitely not newsworthy. Actually seems like Arrington either has a beef with Skygrid, or wants to make startup “news” out of nothing, or is just a mean jerk who wants to cause more pain for someone who, I’m sure, is already feeling it.
I’d hire you too man ! Rock on.
Man, if you guys think venting about an ex-employer makes you unemployable I should have been living in a box for the past 2 years.
It helps that I’ve had a string of really good clients lately though.
What the fuck ARRINGTON… wtf.. what an a hole you are.. for some twit messages you ruin someones career and someone’s life..do you really think she ever’s gonna get hired again…. WHAT THE FUCKKK…. jesus… fucking christ.. you’re an idiot arrington..that’s all I can say
It has ZERO a big fat ASS ZERO news value.. all it does it ruins someone’s life. She made her profile private..and what do you do you stupid retard post it all again..
I have no respect for you… that was wrong and it just shows how much of an idiot you are.. I always suspected that… but boy there is NO NEWS VALUE IN THAT.. what the fuckk…
wow! i gotta admit that there is some truth in your claims, but u gotta chill.
CoolestJobsOnline
http://tinyurl.com/7uj5ay
reply
It was always my understanding that after giving notice companies are under no obligation to pay you for the 2 weeks notice period. I have found that most companies will ask you to leave immediately and as a courtesy pay you for the 2 week notice period. Getting severence after quitting? Not sure where she got that idea from.
Another poster pointed out something that I do not understand and that is people’s fearlessness about revealing personal information in public forums.
BTW there are a heck of a lot of Sara Parkers out there so I’m not sure I would be too worried if I were her. Now if her name was Sernia Voklemieires then I might be worried.
She’s probably right about those idiots…
They have an “In the News” section on their site — is this going to get added there?
VP Engineering has a bad reputation in all his previously worked companies. He has been kicked out of all the companies he has been worked previously.
This just sounds like an angry employee. She could very well be liable for defamation by the company for these comments.
From what I can tell, SkyGrid did nothing wrong. She deserved to be fired for publicly twittering about the company in a negative way.
Sara Parker appears to have destroyed herself.
No professionally managed company will hire such a person.
She may have legit complaints, or may not, but there is a well established process for grievance.
Having employment has its own responsibilities and sensibilities.
I have seen employees in the US who think that because they can drive, talk endlessly, have a credit card and have sex, they should not be managed or given advice. This case appears to that way.
Such people appear to have the attitude that their jobs are indispensable.
Such people have a lot to learn, and foreign competition, unemployment and hard times may hopefully teach them a lifelong lesson, if they are lucky.
- imoDOTcom -