something similar happened to me when i reported my very well connected silicon valley employer to california’s labor relation board; for over a year, i couldn’t find work despite having the right experience and personal & professional friends alike told me that my candidacy was unanimously approved. towards the end, i got my own confirmation in the form of submitting 2 identical applications for each position and only getting interview requests from the applications with the fake name; so i literally moved across the country 2x to find sustained employment again. (on a related note, i wish i could understand how austin texas is so closely associated with silicon valley california)?!

i was lucky in retrospect because i don’t have a mortgage, car loan, or people who depended on me at the time so i managed to eek out a survival leveraging my experience until i saved enough $$$ to move both times and it breaks my heart to know that these families will suffer much worse because i’m an educated, childless american where even my country’s lowest earners make 5x more these workers got paid, so we who can move to a different market whenever it’s needed and affordable. i have recourse for 2 more years to save up enough money to mount a legal challenge and these people don’t have that.

although, to be honest, dragging out lawsuits that outlive the people who created them is a common lawyer tactic to minimize pay out and i doubt i would live long enough to see it through to the end and it would also spread my name further to other asshats who don’t already know that i’m not too scared to call the state’s labor board; but this time, i’ll be sure to give the labor board contact information that isn’t easily traceable back to me.