Story 287

I am a 47-year-old HR professional in the tech world. In 2021 I was recruited from a startup to join Amazon as an HRBP supporting one of the largest lines of business at the company. It was a global role where I was often in EMEA and APAC, so we decided my husband would step back from his job to help with the kids. Things were great until they weren’t.

In 2023, I was called into an HR investigation out of the blue and told that someone on my team had filed a complaint. Because I’m in HR, I know how this works (or, at least, is supposed to work), so I did the normal things to gather evidence to fight the claim, etc. But over a few weeks it became clear it wasn’t going away so I became increasingly frantic, which then caused the situation to escalate.

You can see where this is going: I was fired for cause. It was the most shocking event of my life, not just my career. It was totally unexpected and unmooring. I spent months trying to hire a lawyer but no one would take my case. Apparently, Amazon is known in the law community to be vicious, alter evidence, and lie under oath – so no attorney wants to fight them on contingency. Also, because they investigated me for so long, lawyers noted that they would have stacked the deck against me. And because I was so naïve to assume I would be cleared – because I was not guilty – I didn’t take photos of evidence like I should have.

We had to sell our house to stave off bankruptcy; had to pull our kids out of their beloved private school; my marriage is strained because my husband is deeply bitter about what happened; and my executive function is completely shot due to PTSD. I haven’t figured out how to answer the question about why I would leave such a “great role” after just 22 months.

But here’s the worst part: after seeing and hearing about several other female colleagues who were forced out, we figured out the jig. We were all fired in staged HR investigations mere weeks before our two-year six/seven figure stock vesting events. It appears to be a playbook of pure greed; a way to bleed off hard working talent and ultimately steal from them. I have been unable to find a single man this happened to, I suspect because they know women won’t fight back the way men do, although I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they target men of color.

If you find this hard to believe, I understand. I did too.

I hope someone learns something by my sharing because I, myself, haven’t figured out what it’s trying to teach me. Every day is a struggle to rebuild.