Thanks for all the sympathy.
Let me explain something a little further on the "not right"/"not legal" thing. AM Best is a rating agency. That means in the United States
that it comes under very special scrutiny from the SEC, including things like an audit they did last week. I basically satirized a measure taken in the wake of
and at the suggestion of that audit, and did it by mimicking the form of the official memo announcing that measure, right down to invoking certain regulations
and bodies as the reason for some outrageously over-the-top "policy changes". If the SEC or other regulatory body saw the joke memo, and I were still
employed there, they could draw the conclusion that Best was not serious about its regulatory compliance, regardless of the comedic intent of the memo, and
basically shut down the company. These are the Feds, remember. No sense of humor on the job, everything must be assumed to be absolutely serious. In the
opinion of management and HR, in order to prevent a possible problem with the Feds, I (and my friend) had to go. Technically, I am told, I am discharged
because of a violation of SEC regulations. I could possibly even be denied unemployment benefits for this. The HR VP admitted that it was at least in part
because upper management was still oversensitized from the audit, but it was necessary for the company to prove that it was serious about keeping its status as
a rating agency.
That I understand and to a certain degree agree with why they canned me does not mean I am happy. I am anything but.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Let me explain something a little further on the "not right"/"not legal" thing. AM Best is a rating agency. That means in the United States
that it comes under very special scrutiny from the SEC, including things like an audit they did last week. I basically satirized a measure taken in the wake of
and at the suggestion of that audit, and did it by mimicking the form of the official memo announcing that measure, right down to invoking certain regulations
and bodies as the reason for some outrageously over-the-top "policy changes". If the SEC or other regulatory body saw the joke memo, and I were still
employed there, they could draw the conclusion that Best was not serious about its regulatory compliance, regardless of the comedic intent of the memo, and
basically shut down the company. These are the Feds, remember. No sense of humor on the job, everything must be assumed to be absolutely serious. In the
opinion of management and HR, in order to prevent a possible problem with the Feds, I (and my friend) had to go. Technically, I am told, I am discharged
because of a violation of SEC regulations. I could possibly even be denied unemployment benefits for this. The HR VP admitted that it was at least in part
because upper management was still oversensitized from the audit, but it was necessary for the company to prove that it was serious about keeping its status as
a rating agency.
That I understand and to a certain degree agree with why they canned me does not mean I am happy. I am anything but.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.