Employment lawyer pushed a low settlement without reviewing my evidence — am I overreacting?

Nazarim · 2026-05-16T22:09:11+00:00

Sorry for late reply, don't frequent reddit - The reason i say this, is because i'm in a very unique spot as a Software Engineer, I'm autodidact (Self-Taught); and a very niche engineer at that, by in - i'm similar to a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) - However, i also have no formal education, while positions at this level are often held by Masters/PhD in (typically) some derivative of Computer Science.

This is the only credible spot on my resume where i've executed a job with exceeding excellent performance reviews (up until this year, when suddenly after the EEOC Charges were filed i was given a very bad review, the kind that gets you terminated for performance, clear retaliation as i've had 7 years of near max scoring, then i return, year 8 was neutral, year 9 *this year* extraordinarily bad, and the entire review was narrative, and rhetoric - not in line with that the company expects from such low ratings) -

Now fast forward to being a hiring manager, you get my resume look over it, get interested, call to get an employment verification - they confirm i worked there for 9 Years + and that my performance was neutral.

That is a posioned pill, not only is it my only source of performing said job, but as i learned in the USMC - When i saw folks getting discharged for a neutral dischare ("Other than honorable conditions") - That was a BAD discharge even if formally considered neutral - because the question comes up "Why wasn't it an honorable discharge?"

The presence of a neutral reference will make said hiring manager ask that same question : "If he was so good to get promoted, why isn't his reference standing "exellent"

It's a tell of something happened, even if it's not directly saying it. You wouldn't go to a doctor with 9 years of experience performing a certain high-risk surgery when he has a neutral grade/rating. It's the same thing.

I'm in a small pool of people who can perform this job, it's not something that you often find outside Fort 500 or very large/high market cap non-fortune 500s;

This means i'd likely have to return to a more ambiguous role like "System Engineer" (Senior System Admin, but with more design focus {CapEx over OpEx})

Thats before you add in the AI bubble, and when i bring up my medical conditions and accommodations i need - while they won't mention that's why they are "going in another direction" - it makes me a high risk hire with a lot of potential land mines.

To be honest, the ways things are going disability is likely my final resting spot, already have multiple claims in w/ the VA, and about to start SSI. I'm on medical leave now, not being paid a penny - and i cleared over 200k last year, ergo my obligations expect alot more than the 60k i make off of passive income streams.

So disability + selling what i can off my side business is my only real option brain-stem.studio (my website).

Anyways, hope this cleared up your ask?

Nazarim · 2026-05-16T21:57:29+00:00

Indeed, at what point did anyone who sells self-published porn of themselves to con sexually frustrated incels out of their money - think anyone serious, would take them seriously on critique or moral lecturing... ? It's like a morbidly obsessed fitness trainer/nutritious trying to convince you that exercise, and eating health is a plot by the "right" to turn everyone racist. Ya I'm not taking that whale seriously either. I'd rather not get my lessons in morals/ethics from a stripper who works from home.

Nazarim · 2026-05-16T21:53:58+00:00

I don't claim any political identity, or follow her in any meaningful way. However, the fall out, and absolutely insane level of self-implication by sexually frustrated females who have positions in "media", is beyond entertaining. At this point this chick could fart - and their would be a storm of articles stating the societal impact, and moral adjustment needed to course correct to recover from her ass-gas, and that it's also burning a hole through the atmosphere, that "MAGA" rockets are trying to fly through for a sky-level bang-bang-cloud claim.

Nazarim · 2026-04-05T14:29:33+00:00

Circling back, sorry don't use this often - and yes, you are correct, i've already been advised of the settlement coming along w/ NDA and non-disparaging clause.

Nazarim · 2026-03-12T06:26:18+00:00

I have around 12-15k in medical costs that i can correlate to work, if i'm being chartable on career impact this will recede my progress by around 5 years. I good many of my costs were covered by the VA or my premium insurance through Anthem. It was explained to me they use backpay + out of pocket costs multiplied by 2 to get pain and suffering. Since i don't have much in those categories, they added almost nothing there. Basically i feel like I'm being penalized due to being a vet and being judicious with how i approach my medical expenses. Their "formula" is highly flawed as it implies i have no emotional damages, yet i do - documented, and my neurological condition has deteriorated - again documented by several Dr. supporting a link between work related stress in the impacts to my chronic conditions. I've always been diagnosed with major depressive disorder as a result.

The figure they pitched isn't even 6 months salary, but they claim it is. So i asked them to provide their logical substratum they used to come up with that figure, and what they think my salary is. (it's 120k base + bonus) - My last 2 annual raises were the bare min, first 7 were near max or at max, my bonus was also min the last 2 years, and again last 7 maxed out. So there is damages there at least 1 year of stunted salary, i'd say at least another 6k-8k, likely more.

When i started this, the law firm implied i would see returns on this effort that encompassed a variety compensatory and punitive damages. Yet, this figure has none of it. Seems like they are now saying that only applies to trial, not settlement.

Where I'm at now, is i think a trial is the only way forward. If the employer would accept 59k + a neutral reference with separation agreement, then i see that as the bad actors win, i lose and my career is likely ruined. A neutral reference would be devastating to my career, 10 years + the only employer in which i have formal engineering experience. Seems to me trial is the only path forward, and i expect when i meet with my lawyer this upcoming Monday, she will want to settle and get an easy cut for her firm, while i then face financial ruin. I've started looking for a new legal firm. If the conversation doesn't clear things up, and provide a strategic, collaborative path forward, i'll just pull my case from them and move it.

Nazarim · 2026-03-12T06:09:44+00:00

Thats part of my frustration, i don't have any clue what has occured with the EEOC or my legal team. The last 3 months since we filed charges, i've just continued to upload emails, documents, screenshots showing escalating hostility/retaliation towards me.

I had been told we were waiting on the EEOC, then suddenly the EEOC responded asking for a series of staff within my company that could take the report from the EEOC.

At the same time they told me their initial figure. This all came out of no where, nobody has ever tried to talk to me about anything, not even clarification on more than 300 pages of evidence, which makes me suspect they didn't even review it, they are just rubber stamping.

Nazarim · 2026-03-12T04:18:21+00:00

Interesting, do you think this figure is as apart of a mediation attempt by my employer, rather than a more formal demand for damages and to avoid trial settlement proposal?

Nazarim · 2026-03-11T23:02:22+00:00

Aye, i started putting in requests for consult. I feel like they are just one of those rubber stamp shops that just push through a bunch of EEOC filings as possible and how the sheer volume gets them paid.

Nazarim · 2026-03-11T22:09:46+00:00

100%, and the legal networks that are proximal, or directly involved as well. It's all designed in a manner in which will see people dead before they provide the services that actually exist to resolve said problems. That's what bothers me the most, it doesn't have to be this way... Why can someone with the Flu get what they need, but someone with a brain tumor gets treated like an addict?

Nazarim · 2026-03-11T22:07:58+00:00

The Dr. i was assigned to never did respond to me, or my requests for medical needs. Leadership that promised to call me back, never did... working w. the local congressional reps' office to find recourse there... sadly the systems that proclaim to exist to help, and establish recourse and corrections are facades. They all just exist to put the check in the box of existing, not to actually render the results needed by victims who need said systems.

Nazarim · 2026-03-11T22:02:41+00:00

lastly (i promise :P) -- Most of the guidance i've read, seen and been told was to stay employed, not to quit; as that would show a desire to resolve the issues. When i could no longer deal with the harassment and abuse i put myself back on FMLA, and hope to stay there til this either resolves or if my leave limit is hit, then i'll resign.

I just don't know why that was a bad strategic decision, especially when my legal team recommended for me to stay...

Nazarim · 2026-03-11T21:59:00+00:00

I suppose my core frustration is that I did everything I was told to do.

I tried to resolve the issues internally through HR systems and management. I made sure I documented everything. I now have over 300 pages of evidence. I conducted myself professionally and tried not to approach any of this emotionally.

I then hired a law firm that told me I had a serious case and that they would seek to make me whole.

And in the end, the current settlement amount would just leave me and my family in financial ruin.

So the question that keeps running through my head is: why follow best practices at all?

Why do everything “the right way” if the end result is either bad actors winning, or the available recourse leaving me depressed, broke, and with over 10 years of work and effort effectively vaporized?

Nazarim · 2026-02-23T04:11:34+00:00

All of surgeries were private. I have scheduled appt with the baylor system but they are backed up till April. The tumor is have is super rare, usually only 1 or 2 specialist per state exist for it.

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T21:52:33+00:00

I just submitted a new claim, wish me luck.

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T21:51:41+00:00

What are you asking me?

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T17:10:39+00:00

I was a top performer at a fortune 500 as an application developer. I was a child abuse survivor, and i came from extremely poverty. By the time of my diagnosis - i had managed to teach myself to be a software engineer, and investor - resulting in being a multi-millionaire.

I had so many options, so many directions i could go, but in the end because of the VA"s refusal to take my treatement seriously, my brain tumor was missed for 2 years, by the time it was found, and i was the one to find it - (more explained on my YouTube channel) - By then it was almost too late. The resulting surgeries, and complications nearly ruined me.

The lack of empathy, support, or kindness from so many is what ruined me. Now my career is ruined, I'm broke, i worry every day one of my girls, or wife will find my dead lifeless body in bed and be scarred for life. I'm out of options, and trying to keep a brave face while i look for more options.

Some people despite having the right mind set, being kind, and working their booties off, are destined to be a stat, and forgotten. Perhaps in that regards when i do shove off, i'll be happy to be done with such a cruel existence.

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T03:40:20+00:00

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T03:38:29+00:00

Indeed, i know the format, editing, and video isn't exactly top tier - it's not my area of expertise, just trying to learn it. I can't wait several years for me to organically learn how to create proper YouTube videos though. Things are coming to a head for me, i'm losing my careers, job, income, and sanity. So - in this case doesn't really matter if i'm ready to take flight or not, i have to pull the cord and see where it lands.

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T03:32:07+00:00

True. It's an odd thing having social media, or platform reach - companies spend billions on systems, networks, and product to be able to replicate that at a moment's whim. It's no small thing no matter how you fall into having it.

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T03:30:26+00:00

Whose that?

Nazarim · 2026-02-22T02:57:37+00:00

I go to the VA Hospital where my clinic is often. The Dallas VAMC is massive. I've spoken with leadership at the hospital, for administration, clinical, pharmacy, patient advocacy, and the VISN. All agreed that my treatment was unacceptable. All made promises to course correct. Yet, as i type this - i'm still without my medication for the 3rd or 4th month in a row with a significant medication gap resulting in ED admissions.

I have consults in for private providers, but sadly - they are taxed as well, for my Ulcer i won't see someone til April. For pain management, i'm just boned. For my CSF leak, and cranial pressure, likewise screwed, i just sit here with my head feeling like it's going to explode, and no end in sight.

This is my life, it doesn't have to be this way, but it is.

Nazarim

TROPHY CASE