Nikarie

“They’re trying to discharge her constructively. Do you know what Constructive Discharge means?” She asked.

As soon as I heard the term ‘Constructive Discharge,’ I knew I’d never seen it on a vocabulary quiz.

“No. What does it mean?” I asked.

She explained.

“Constructive discharge is a fancy way of saying “being forced out.” It’s not good. And if you’re not a lawyer or in human resources, you’ll probably learn what it means when it’s happening to you.”

“Oh my God. I’ve seen this my entire career and never knew it even had a name.” I thought.

You’ve seen constructive Discharge too. You may have experienced it. We’ve all made choices to avoid it.

Constructive discharge defined

“We can’t fire you, but we’ll make you so miserable you’ll quit, and then we won’t have to pay your unemployment.”

Then there’s the textbook definition:

“A constructive discharge occurs when your employer has made working conditions unbearable, forcing you to resign.”

Or as one person put it.

“I didn’t get handed a pink slip, but when you’re not wanted, people have a way of letting you know.”

HR isn’t always the secret police.

Employees aren’t always victims of evil-doers.

However, employers push employees out all the time to maintain and protect the, “We didn’t do anything wrong, YOU did,” power structure.

Constructive Discharge looks like this:

— Meeting invitations slow to a trickle, and you’re excluded from emails and generally looped out of what’s going on.

— People stop talking to you or stop talking when you walk in.

— Your emails don’t get answers, or they arrive too late to be of value.

— Suddenly, your work is not good enough, though nothing about your work has changed.

— Reviews, once good or even glowing, are now mediocre or bad.

— Instead of a bonus, you get a Performance Improvement Plan.

— Warnings and write-ups start so they can justify your eventual termination with documentation of your “poor performance”

— Your work, clients, assignments go away, or they overwhelm you with work.

— The words “Set up to fail” were practically invented to describe this scenario.

Constructive Discharge is illegal

It isn’t easy to prove you’re a target, and it’s even more challenging if you don’t even know constructive discharge is a real thing.

If you’ve ever experienced this and don’t fully understand what’s happening to you beyond knowing you’re in the process of being excommunicated, it can be hell. It’s not uncommon for the experience to leave long-lasting scars.

Talk to anyone who’s ever been through it. They’ll tell you.

Knowing constructive discharge exists and how it’s used gives you power to predict what’s coming and to protect yourself.

Seeing the endgame helps you in two ways.

You know what to expect. Having a sense of what’s coming next is enormously empowering. You can go on the offensive and protect yourself. Constructive discharge works to crush your ego, making you feel you did something wrong and deserve this treatment.

Without strategy, you end up being a miserable pawn in your employer’s endgame.

Remember, they’re almost certainly building a case to fire you in the event the hellscape they create for you doesn’t persuade you to quit.

If you’re getting pushed out, and you know what to look for you can prove constructive discharge and you can get unemployment benefits, be released from payback obligations on a signing bonus, and protect your mental health.

You’re not crazy, incompetent, or a failure. This is real and it’s carefully executed to leave you holding the bag and feeling like you did something wrong.

In the US, you have A FEDERAL RIGHT to communicate to your boss that you see what they’re doing, and by so doing, YOU RETAIN YOUR RIGHT TO UNEMPLOYMENT—EVEN IF YOU QUIT!!!

Here’s how it works.

1) go to work tomorrow and read the employee rights poster. By law, they’re required to have one, and they’re usually located in the breakroom. It looks something like this:

Usually, this will be posted next to a state labor laws poster, as well. (Also required by law, but I have seen them posted in two separate locations due to a building having a stupid wall layout, so if you don’t see both, do some poking.) There are a few different styles of these posters, but they’re all basically variations on a theme, so you should be able to recognize yours from the image posted above. I’ve read them hundreds of times in the last eight years, just to keep my memory fresh. If you don’t see such a poster, contact your state labor board, because that is VERY ILLEGAL. The law is unambiguous on this: the poster must be posted in a highly-visible (to employees) location that is readily accessible. Not in your boss’s office, not in HR, not on the back of the fridge. Highly visible, readily accessible, REQUIRED BY LAW. If you have to contact the labor board on this one, skip straight to step 2b while you’re at it, because your boss is up to some shady shit.

2a) now that you’ve had the primer of your rights as an employee, if everything is good for you, great! Keep an eye out and revisit these from time to time to be sure you’re not missing anything, especially if things start feeling rough. If things are NOT good for you, progress to 2b.

2b) if you suspect you’re the target of constructive discharge, DOCUMENT. EVERYTHING. Dates too, if you can remember them, although if you’re trying to remember “as far back as you can go” when you begin to document, your dates might be a little hazier. Ask for personal hard copies of any consultations, write-ups, improvement plans, reviews, etc. and so forth that you receive. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO THIS DOCUMENTATION. Keep all of this in a file. If any of your coworkers make comments on what’s happening to you, note those down too: “on 1 July I called to inform my supervisor I’d be late due to an unexpected flat tire. I arrived six minutes after my shift was due to begin. I received a corrective action form. My coworker Linda commented that she was surprised, because although this is my first tardy in over three years, other employees with repeated, significantly more severe tardies do not receive corrective action forms. My supervisor did not explain why he felt I required this form after a single incident of tardiness.” If you know what you’re being asked to do is illegal, MAKE THAT CLEAR IN YOUR DOCUMENTATION. “After hearing me mention to Sarah that I was hoping for a raise, supervisor Paul asked to have a one-on-one and required me to sign a form stating I would not discuss my salary, in contravention of state and federal law.”

3) when you feel you have sufficient evidence that Some Bullshit Is Afoot, it’s time to write to your HR department. Instructions on how to do this will be on that poster (sorry, I’m home and getting ready for bed, I don’t have this part memorized), but basically you’re going to be telling them that conditions have deteriorated such that you may be forced to resign if they don’t improve. Note that the phrase “forced to resign” is IMPORTANT AS HELL. Make sure you keep a hard copy of this letter for yourself.

4) You now have to give them 10-14 days to read, respond, and implement changes (I forget the exact number of days but it’s in there somewhere). CONTINUE TO DOCUMENT.

5) best case scenario, they realize they done fucked up, and things will change for the better. More likely scenario, you have to quit. HOWEVER, if you have followed all of these steps correctly, you can still claim unemployment.

6) now go contact the IWW for information on how to start talking union to your coworkers before it gets this far: www.iww.org

And finally, a note because this has happened to me and statistically either has or will happen to some of you:

If at any time the poor conditions should escalate to include sexual assault or harassment by a supervisor, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200, CALL THE LABOR BOARD IMMEDIATELY. Make an EXACT record of what happened: write down statements verbatim, if you were touched inappropriately make note of exactly how and where, if you were offered any kind of quid pro quo (e.g., a promotion in exchange for oral sex; sex in exchange for continued employment) make note of EXACTLY what was offered and asked for. It is 100% okay to call the labor board and say “I don’t know what to do, my boss groped my breasts today and told me he’d have a talk with his supervisor about my pay rate ‘if I was nice’. Please tell me what to do, I’m afraid if I quit I’ll lose unemployment.” Someone will be able to help you. In cases like these, do not wait. This is also true if you’re blatantly racially or religiously discriminated against. Please note when I say “blatant,” that’s a much higher standard than what Tumblr understands as blatant. If your boss says you’re pretty cool for an N-word, call. If your boss makes a disparaging comment about doo-rags, document and hold your horses for now. (Is that a microaggression? Yes. Is that something the labor board will find actionable? Not on its own.)

If you’ve been placed on a Performance Improvement Plan, ask for digital and hard copies of the plan that have been signed by HR.

If you have the strength to do it, accept the PIP, and indulge in malicious compliance. Do everything exactly as it’s outlined in the PIP document and nothing more. Overachieving against a PIP won’t help your situation, but don’t quit.

Keep copies of every email and message related to your PIP on a separate USB.

Find your company handbook. It is probably hidden somewhere on an internal website. Save a copy to the USB so you can research it for ANYTHING that might help you negotiate with HR at the end.

Keep all of your notes on the same USB.

Always assume your work computer has spyware on it.

None of this will help you keep your job. Remember that. All of this is to help you negotiate with HR when it’s time to review your PIP performance. WHEN they say you didn’t meet the goals that were outlined, refer to your stack of documentation and give specific examples of where you met those goals. Ask HR what the next steps are. Your ultimate goal is to make HR suggest that you and the company part ways.

DO NOT AGREE TO THAT MAGIC STATEMENT. That’s when you start negotiating the terms of the company letting you go. The things I politely demanded AND GOT in writing:

3 months salary.

All remaining vacation time paid out.

Continued insurance coverage for 3 months.

A guarantee of a good reference if any potential employer asked for one.

A guarantee that the company would not contest my unemployment claim.

We toss out over 80 pounds of textiles each year. These textiles are often made of plastic materials (polyester, nylon), made in unethical conditions, dyed with harsh dyes that often get put into the rivers, etc. Even a single cotton shirt releases carbon emissions and uses tons of water. 

So the best thing to prevent the unsustainable growth of the fashion industry is to make sure that your clothing lasts as long as possible. To do so, mending clothing is a must. So here are some resources to help you learn how to do various things, such as sewing a button, to tailoring clothes, or even upcycling old clothing into new styles. 

* How to sew on three different types of button

* How to hand sew on a patch on a torn pair of jeans

* How to sew up a hole in an old shirt

* How to sew a simple T-shirt

* How to upcycle old clothing into new clothing

* More upcycle and sewing techniques

* How to repair a damaged sock

* How to do an invisible stitch

* 3 different stitches to work with for different results

* How to make a T-shirt smaller so it fits you better

* How to make repairs to your shoes

These are just a few of the things that you can do in order to make sure that your clothing lasts for a long time. Nobody wants to keep buying new clothing, as it is expensive and wasteful. 

Here we are again, with the PWHL regular season starting this Friday on November 21st. This will look a lot like last years primer, but with updated information, including two new teams.

The sections of this primer are: What is the PWHL, When do they play, Where can I watch, Rules/League Structure, journalists to follow, and an introduction to each team (what they did last year, who's on the team, notable players, you should root for them if you..)

What is the PWHL?

The Professional Women's Hockey League was created in 2023 and launched in January 2024. It is currently the only professional women's hockey league in North America.

Heading into the 2025-2026 season, the PWHL has eight teams: The Toronto Sceptres, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, New York Sirens, Montréal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Vancouver Goldeneyes, and Seattle Torrent

The teams are currently all owned by the league itself, though they have individual front offices, they do not have individual ownership at this time.

When do they play?

You can find the full season schedule here. Please note that all times are in local time, and vary between Eastern, Central, and Pacific time. Each team plays 30 regular season games.

The PWHL schedule has a few things to make note of: they do what's called the "takeover tour" where they play games in a neutral market. So even if you don't have a PWHL team yet, if you live in a major American or Canadian market, they may be coming to you! They also occasionally upgrade games to nearby NHL arenas

There are pauses on Jan. 29 to Feb. 25 for the Olympics, as well as a small break from Dec. 8-15 for National Team training.

Where can I watch?

On Television

Canadian fans will have games split between TSN and its affiliates (such as TSN+) and Sportsnet, with Tuesday night games on Amazon Prime and select games in CBC

French broadcasts of Montreal games can be found on RDS, Radio-Canada, on ICI TÉLÉ and ICI TOU.TV

All fans not in Canada, Czechia, and Slovakia are available to stream on the PWHL Youtube for free regardless of location (so if you're "in market" there's no black-outs like there is NHL games. )

Regional broadcasts also show PWHL games on the following channels: Fanduel Sports Network North in Minnesota, NESN/NESN+ in Boston, MSG/MSG+ in New York, Fox 13+ in Seattle, Sportnet Pittsburgh, and select free over-the-air broadcasts for select games in various U.S. markets. Once again, Even if you are in the U.S. and your regional sports network carries it, you should still be able to access it on Youtube, blackouts do NOT apply

Fans in Czechia and Slovakia can watch games on Novasport

All of this information can also be found here if you want to bookmark it

In Person

No changes for the existing teams, except that Boston will have more games at Agganis Arena

Toronto Scepters play at Coca-Cola Coliseum

Ottawa Charge play at TD Place

Montréal Victoire play at Place Bell

Boston Fleet play at Tsongas Center (Lowell, MA) with some games at Agganis Arena (Boston, MA)

Minnesota Frost play at Grand Casino Arena, formerly known as XCel Energy Center.(St Paul, MN)

New York Sirens will play at Prudential Center (Newark, NJ)

Seattle Torrent play at Climate Pledge Arena

Vancouver Goldeneyes play at Pacific Coliseum

There are also many neutral site games this year including Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, D.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Québec City and Winnipeg

What are the rules? The League Structures?

What is the point system? Who makes the playoffs?

Each game is worth three points: 3 for a regulation win, 2 for an overtime win, and 1 for an overtime loss

Four of the eight teams make the playoffs. The number one seed got to choose their opponent between the third and fourth seed. All series were best of five series, the two semi finals and then the finals.

Rules

If you are an NHL fan looking to jump in, here are the differences in the PWHL. The rulebook is also here.

Bodychecking is allowed in the PWHL, so long as it is done in an attempt to play the puck or gain possession. Reverse hits are not allowed. While women's hockey has always been physical, bodychecking at this level is fairly new. This is also not the case in international competition or in the NCAA, so it is a little different from the Olympics or worlds or college games if you are used to watching those.

The PWHL has a "jailbreak rule" which means that if you are shorthanded and score on your penalty kill, the penalty ends.

In shootouts, a player can go as many times as they'd like.

During penalties, teams have a "No Escape" rule, where players of a penalized team who were on the ice when the whistle blew are required to stay on the ice to start the penalty kill.

NEW THIS YEAR: There are no coaches challenges, decisions to review a goal either come from the PWHL Central Situation Room (CSR) or the on-ice officials.

Hits to the head, headbutting, and grabbing an opponents helmet strap, throat protector, or hair is an automatic major penalty and game misconduct.

So we were talking the same levels. Just different numbers. Thank you for the concern though! I was distressed thinking my clinic was bad until I figured out the issue.

Honestly its on me because I didnt memorize the units and was just venting into the void.

http://foundation.pbs.org/ways-to-give/

http://protectmypublicmedia.org

(or at least all Canadian citizens, which isn’t quite the same thing)

There is an election Monday, April 28th. That’s tomorrow. You need to vote.

If you received a voter card, it will have your poll location on it. If you didn't, you can find the location HERE (français). Elections Canada does not call voters - if someone called or texted you to say the time or location has changed, that’s fraud. Check the website for accurate information.

In order to vote you need EITHER a driver’s license or provincial ID card, OR two pieces of ID, one of which has your current address. A letter from your University or residence counts. (Proof of address is more important than proof of citizenship.) The full list of ID accepted is HERE (français).

If you didn’t receive a voter information card, you may not be registered to vote. But that’s okay!

YOU DO NOT NEED TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE TO VOTE IN CANADA.

You can register at the poll station on Election Day. It’s not hard and it doesn’t take very long, and you don’t need extra ID.

Voting is quick and usually simple. Polling hours depend on your province (français), but all polls will be open until at least 7:00 pm, usually later. (Note that in the Eastern Time Zone polls open late, at 9:30 am.) Your employer is required to give you time off to vote (français) if you need it.

Information for voters with disabilities is HERE (français). If you have feedback on accessibility or other issues, there will be forms you can fill out at your polling station.

If you got a mail-in ballot and you have not sent it yet, you can drop it off in person at your local Elections Canada office (français) or the address on the envelope, anytime before the polls close.

Here’s the acceptable ID list again (français).

I also think that most people can relate to a small, helpless creature trying to get from one place to another and there's a FUCKIN WALL in the way.

But to come back to point 1- Citizen Science fills a hole in the soul that wanted to go out on adventures and discover things when we were younger, but the study of it was hard or we didn't have the money or our schools were garbage. But you don't have to have a degree to do things like... press a button or download and use an app, or count or transcribe notes.

Anyways- here's some Citizen Science links if the Fish Doorbell makes you feel happy and you yearn for more ways to help scientists do stuff:

Foldit (folding proteins)

Fathomverse (sea animals)

Project Monarch (butterflies)

Bioblitz, an event where citizens identify as many species in an area within a period of time

Species Watch (animal species)

BOINC’s Compute for Science

Zooniverse is a website that hosts information on many citizen science projects

Label trees in aerial photos

Count cells in fossils and modern leaves

Digitize Atmospheric Data

Count penguins

US-based Citizen Science Database

eBird (bird identification)

Merlin (bird identification by sound)

iNaturalist (nature identification)

MapSwipe (collaboration between several Red Cross organizations and Doctors Without Borders, update vital geospatial data)

NO MORE BEING BLINDED BY FICS

Love each other, at the very least.

Know how to DIY.

Volunteer in local environmental initiatives.

Do not cooperate with ICE. DO NOT COOPERATE.

Download everything you want from transreads.com. Keep the PDFs on your phone and/or your laptop. Send them to friends. Read them.

Read theory. I’m not kidding. It’s so worthwhile to struggle through the hard stuff, because that’s the real cutting edge of gender studies, not dumb internet discourse. Read Feminism Against Cisness, Judith Butler (to remember that sex is just as much a social construct as gender is), and Ásta’s Categories We Live By. Read Whipping Girl, definitely, but don’t only read Whipping Girl. It’s just one thread in the beautiful tapestry of trans studies. Read Kate Bornstein. Get your friends to read whatever you’re reading and talk about it together. I can’t stress how important this is for our liberation.

Dance around the house to music you like. This is also of extreme importance. :)

Pick up a hobby or better yet several hobbies that are totally offline and think about how good you’ll be at them by the end of four years. Remember that the time will pass anyways. I learned to knit four years ago and I’m really good at it now. By the end of the next four years I’ll have earned my pointe shoes. I’m so freaking excited for that!!! Kill the part of you that cringes at earnestness. We can’t take that shit where we’re going.

Go to a Unitarian Universalist church service once and see if there are trans people or the (loving and accepting) parents and grandparents of trans people there. I say this not because you need religion (you REALLY don’t), but because UUs tend to be queer/trans-elder meccas. Also, kind old ladies willing to give away sewing machines. Also, free food and opportunities to do environmental restoration work. But if the vibes are off, you don’t need to go back.

Try hiking. Be by the water if you can. If you can (SAFELY!!!) make a campfire outdoors or in a fireplace, do it. Camp if you can. Feel and listen to the wind. Grow things (think about getting a community plot with friends if your neighborhood has them). We neeeed to be outside.

Make art about it. I made this zine/poster and distributed 1000 copies of it. If you want to distribute it too, you can do that. But also make your own art, even if it’s bad. It’s the making that’s important.

Find other trans/queer people. Belong to a discord or two. Stay on Tumblr. But also find trans or queer people to be around IRL!!! Have potlucks! Have weird drama that can really only happen in person! Stay out of internet discourse because 95% of the time whatever hot button issue is discussed today simply doesn’t matter. Don’t send hate, don’t do callouts, don’t pedojacket, don’t align yourself against whole groups of trans people (no matter how annoying or misguided you find some individuals to be, they aren’t representatives of everyone of their identity). Remember we are Swimmy.

Stopppppppp reading the news! If you need to know, you’ll know. Don’t get your news from tiktok or IG or Twitter, ESPECIALLY now. Learn how to fact check. Be aware of your own confirmation bias. Learn to admit you were wrong with grace (to yourself as well).

Stop smoking. Sorry. I’m being so for real. Smoking weed counts as smoking. Sorry. Quit.

See if your area has ICE observer trainings. Or police observer trainings. Or trans self defense classes. Vote in local elections.

Don’t forget refugerestrooms.org exists. Advocate for gender neutral bathrooms at your workplace/school, even if you don’t plan to use them.

See is there’s a food bank in your area that doesn’t need proof of income/ID. Probably you can get a huge bag of shelf-stable foods at least once a month, maybe more. Sometimes they have fresh vegetables and bread too.

Find a boymoding outfit you can tolerate AND a girlmoding outfit you can tolerate, regardless of which way you’re trans, to keep in your closet just in case of a true emergency. If one of these feels really truly unlivable, that’s good knowledge to have. One day when you’re feeling particularly brave, make a list of everything you can do to never have to wear that outfit again, from the most simple shit to the most wildly unrealistic.

If you have a (little) trans kid in your life, keep a journal (ON PAPER!) of every instance in which they demonstrate their GNCness/transness, for as long as they continue to do so. Keep your record keeping straightforward and impartial. Keep this secure with your most important papers.