ddeserres2004 I don't think your personal grievance against CREE is really the point of the article. And your entitlement mentality is just classic. You are not entitled to a raise just because your personal life tanks and you need more money. You are not entitled to a promotion because of time in service. You are not entitled to even have a job if they don't want to have you there. In today's climate it is a PRIVELEDGE to have a job. Lastly, I do not work for this company. And stop bragging about your time in the army. I was in the army, and I don't want people associating me with you.

and yeah......I know what EEO is all about. The army trained me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddeserres/2763039148/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddeserres/2804506849/

In the mean time they hired someone with NO EXPERIENCE and under age 40 from outside the company into the position of Buyer/Planner III that they could have promoted me into. My evals were excellent. I was already doing the job. Finally in complete disgust I filed age discrimination charges against Cree, and I then suffered 6 months of severe and downright cruel harassment and retaliation at the hands of my supervisors and HR. Retaliation is against the law, so why did the EEOC let them get away with it? In my opinion the investigators are biased, incompetent, corrupt, and/or just plain lazy. They told me NC is a "At will state", and that Cree can "Do whatever they want". Is this a travesty of justice? What happened to MY civil rights? I'm a veteran and I was a single parent through all of this. 5 years of busting tail for this company and working my way up to the top of the organization for this. Thanks Brian, Randy, Lynnette, Elizabeth, Brenda, and thanks above all to the CEO Chuck.

Helping to build a house for charity is nice, but what about the lives of former employees that this company has wrecked? In 2007 this company changed the rules on me and told me that I was unpromotable and would never get another promotion or pay raise. I have a 2 year degree in electronics engineering, 20 years of experience in electronics and microelectronics, and 4 years of military service in the US Army, but this was no longer good enough to them. When I politely explained to them that I was perfectly qualified when they brought me into Solid State Lighting /Purchasing they told me that the rules had changed. When I told them that I desperately needed a raise because I was going through a custody change of my youngest son and stood to lose my home, they told me to find another job. When I sent my resume and military documents to coworkers in an attempt to find another job internally they wrote me up and eventually fired me. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daviddeserres/