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Do I have to give 2 weeks' notice?
Underdog
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi, some of you may remember me from a resume thread a couple of weeks back. Things have... not been great since then. They've radically added to my job description, effectively doubling my workload with things I'm not qualified to do and I am tremendously stressed out at the moment. All this for a measly $12/hr. I'm not quitting yet but it is on my mind and I wanted to know about this 2 weeks' notice thing. Is it mandatory? Will they do anything to my wages if I don't give notice? To clarify things, I'm in Toronto, Ontario and I have been working there for a grand total of 8 days.
Story
Story
I was brought into the law firm to do productions. Basically, it's drafting and sending letters to request things like Income Tax Returns, OHIP summaries and doctor's notes for our clients' cases. That was it. That's all. I write them, get them checked out and signed, scan and then send them. And I was totally fine with this. It was exactly what I was looking for actually. Well they changed all that yesterday.
Apparently, the paralegal quit. On Thursday. And he's not coming back. So my supervisor and the lawyer decide that I, with my 8 days of legal experience, will now take over certain portions of the paralegal position. Specifically, Notices of Intent and Statements of Claim. To those who don't know what those mean, well I don't really either but I do know that they're my responsibility now.
This feels like bullshit. I did not sign up to be a stand-in paralegal. I signed up to do office bitch work god damn it and that's what they pay me for. I have no interest in NOI's and SOC's. I am so stressed out from worrying about screwing these things up and fucking up the client's cases that I can't even sleep. They don't pay me enough to be this stressed!
Apparently, the paralegal quit. On Thursday. And he's not coming back. So my supervisor and the lawyer decide that I, with my 8 days of legal experience, will now take over certain portions of the paralegal position. Specifically, Notices of Intent and Statements of Claim. To those who don't know what those mean, well I don't really either but I do know that they're my responsibility now.
This feels like bullshit. I did not sign up to be a stand-in paralegal. I signed up to do office bitch work god damn it and that's what they pay me for. I have no interest in NOI's and SOC's. I am so stressed out from worrying about screwing these things up and fucking up the client's cases that I can't even sleep. They don't pay me enough to be this stressed!
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seriously - most managers will not dump work on someone who is not qualified. in all likelihood, they either see potential in you, or the additional tasks are simple.... so either you can ask for more money (if it's the former) or quit stressing (if it's the latter) - but figuring out which would again require talking with your manager
Oh I'm going to talk to the lawyer on Monday. At the very least, I want it on record that I stated I wasn't qualified to do the new stuff so that if the shit hits the fan, they can't blame it all on me.
And no, the additional tasks are not simple. Or at least they don't seem simple
They've dumped it on me because there's no one else to dump it on. The paralegal had given his own two week notice but apparently the person who owns the firm told him not to bother and don't come back.
It's not a money thing. I actively do not want these new responsibilities but they seem intent on giving them to me.
Lastly, I don't mean to bite your head off but if it was as easy as telling myself not to stress about it, well then I wouldn't be here. At this point, I'd be happy to calm down enough so that I could start sleeping through the night. Keeping the job long-term is not in the books. They're intent on turning me into something I don't want to be so I wanted to figure out the procedure for quitting to be prepared.
To add to my bitching
That said, if you're going to quit after 8 days I wouldn't be too concerned about giving a 2 weeks' notice
Edit: Yes, I know I sound like a massive pussy. I wish I wasn't. I wish I could've been like 'Oh, new responsibilities? Sweet, I'll take care of it, no problem.' and then actually believe it. I can't though. I fret and worry and go over it again and again, thinking about all the ways I could screw it all up. I'm trying my best to be calm and this is about as calm as I'm going to get.
It's weird because this is really the only time in my life I can remember being this stressed out. I worked in a kitchen for 5 years and never had a day that even approached this level of nervousness. Not on the days when there were so many orders on the counter that we ran out of counter space. Or even the day when I walked into the kitchen, saw the headchef was gone and then was told that he had quit and I would have to make do by myself from then on. No combination of essays, tests and exams ever made me this jittery.
Don't worry about making mistakes. If you're just getting started, somebody should make themselves available to review your drafts before they get filed. If nobody does, and you make a mistake that winds up making life difficult, they can't really hold you responsible, and neither should you. You can also take solace in the fact that nothing you do is likely to permanently harm a client's case. At worst, someone will have to seek leave to file an amended statement of claim or something.
They mentioned something about amending SOCs but the 2 year limitation date is well, this month for the 3 SOCs that I said needed to be done so I'm not sure if there's actually time to make mistakes, which is also probably much of the reason I'm stressing out.
Thanks Grid. I actually feel... better talking to someone who knows something about the job.
What will your new job title be now? Para-fuckin-legal.*
Is it your company/money? No? Then do your best and record everything. Every email from boss telling you to do one of these tasks outside your expertise should be going to an Outlook .pst and saved to a flash (CD would be better).
While it may have been a case of, "Give it to the new guy!" They had to think you were at least semi-capable of doing it, otherwise Kelly Temps are pretty cheap.
*Leave out the 'fuckin' part until you're at least a CPA.
Full disclosure, I'm just a law student in Manitoba, but I've done similar sorts of work while summering. I'm by no means an expert.
And, not to put a damper on MichaelLC's enthusiasm, but you mustn't go around calling yourself a paralegal unless you've been licensed as such by the Law Society of Upper Canada. In fact, now that I think about it, you should probably have a conversation with the managing partner at your firm about the limits of your duties as defined by the Law Society's By-laws. Don't let them brush you off or give you a vague non-answer.
The key here is keep calm and carry on. Do your best because that's all they're asking of you, not miracles.
You can do this.
Which is exactly what you now want to do.
Well no, the worst thing a bad job could do is to screw the client over. There are basically hard deadlines coming up and I need to do this new job properly and then get the documents served by the end of this month or else these clients won't be able to make their case. Like ever again. Or at least that's what I've been led to believe. I'll admit, if I went in tomorrow and they flat out told me not to come back, most of me would be pretty happy. The only reason I'm not walking out now is that with the shitty economy, even a job that stresses me out is better than no job at all.
And I wish I could take solace in the notion that it's temporary but it isn't. I heard them talking and the plan was for me to do productions (my 'old' job) for 3 months and then train me to do SOCs (my 'new' job). Now they're like "Well he was going to do it anyways so let's have him start now."
But yeah, I'll try to stay calm and accept that the best I can give them is my best and if that turns out to not be good enough, well they can hardly blame me for it. Hell, they might even can me for it.
Not my enthusiasm!
[Vader NOO.gif]
Good to know, I thought paralegal was just a job description, not an actual rank/title. In that case, talk to the managers about them paying for the classes/test/whatever is needed for you to become a paralegal.
It's good you're taking your job seriously, but try to see this in a positive light. Sit down with them and make sure they're quite clear on what they want you to do, then just do your best and learn all you can.
I had the same feeling dozens of times when I was a paralegal. Just do your best and you'll often find that it's just what they're looking for.
If anything that you prepare that ends up being filed will be in the name of the attorney, it's ultimately his responsibility, not your's, to make sure the filing is in order.
Like people have said, look at this as an opportunity. Maybe you're overthinking the importance of these filings. Ultimately, the lawyers appear comfortable with having you work on them, so they may not be as crucual as you might think.
Rigorous Scholarship
Now stressing for selfish reasons, I understand. But again, the worst thing that can happen to YOU is you lose your job and leave on a bad note. Tucking tail and quitting the job is going to be an even worse result. You will be just as unemployed with just as much bridge burnt.
So basically, you need to let the stress go. Would you be happier right now if this DIDNT happen? Probably, but this is also a good moment to grow from. Next job interview when they ask you to describe a problem you encoutered at work, would you rather say "the paralegal quit so they dumped me al his work so I quit." or "the paralegal quit so they dumped me all his work, and I used the resources available to me to complete the tasks and help out the company in a time of need."
Quitting does not leave you better off then the worst case scenerio of staying. So, use that knolwedge to help keep the stress down.
If a manager or boss gives you something you're not qualified or capable of doing, stop. Look them in the eye and say, "I just want to let you know that I don't think I'm qualified or capable of doing this. I will do the best, to the best of my abilities to help you and get this done for the time being." Once that's done, do it, ask lots of questions, be annoying. As long as no one is going to die because you took it over, there isn't a reason to worry. If the company gets fined for doing something wrong because they didn't train you right, they get fined. They'll wise up, hopefully, after the fact. But until then, relish in the responsibilities.
After a week or so if they haven't brought up hiring a new person, ask them to resign your contract with a raise and a new job title. They usually try to sneak it into the clause of "You do what we tell you to do is what your job responsibilities are, bitch." but those don't usually hold up if challenged (if one was willing to push it that far).