Digital Leaves Former VP with $300,000 in Corporate Expenses

While working for Digital Realty on the other side of the world, I was fired in retaliation reporting my manager’s wrongdoing.   Evidence exists to prove my termination was retaliation by the former SVP, Kris Kumar, for reporting him to senior management.  One of the SVP’s I reported to told Ellen Jacobs, the former head of HR.  Jacobs, in turn, told Kumar of the reporting, breaching confidentiality.  She then worked with him from 8,500 miles away concocting reasons to fire me.  It’s all retaliation.  CEO Bill Stein may have recognized the liability and forced her to resign.   I was an exemplary employee with the evidence to prove it.

Digital’s lawyers know how much the evidence is against Digital in this lawsuit. They simply won’t release the documents that provide the details needed.  Breaking the law by refusing to release documents is a stubborn and costly approach to problem-solving.  So what other idiotic decisions has Joshua Mills, General Counsel,  made along the way?

Josh Mills, General Counsel, retaliated further by stopping payments on the apartment Digital had me lease as corporate housing

The problem Digital is up against is this: They forced expats to sign foreign leases personally.  Why?  Perhaps Digital enjoyed the power of having employees who couldn’t quit.  It’s a form of indentured servitude.  Digital’s International Assignment Policy states that if an employee were to quit the company, he or she would be responsible for their expat apartment lease balance.  So you can change jobs for up to 2 years if you’re in Singapore since leases run for 2-years.  If Digital fires you, even when they did so illegally as they did with me,  you also get stuck with the lease balance.  What kind of public company would do such a thing?    It happened to me and still is.  Does Digital think that trying to bankrupt a former employee is good for morale?

Here’s what I am facing:

Going back four years ago, in late 2013, Digital asked me to remain on for two more years as a VP in Singapore.  In November 2013,  signed a two-year extension letter.  Digital wished me continued success.  That same month I signed a new two-year lease valued at $189,000 USD.  Digital HR department required a copy of the lease, approved it, and paid the security deposit.  Digital began paying the rent every month as they had the previous 41 months on my other apartments..

As a result,  Mills decided to stick me with more than $265,000 in costs.  With interest, Digital’s liability has grown to nearly $300,000.

I appealed to Mr. Josh Mills 14 months ago to reimburse me for the expenses Digital foisted upon me as punishment for following the law and their Code of Conduct.  These expenses included:

1. The balance of the Singapore apartment rent From May 2014 to November 2015.
2. Moving expenses to return to the USA.
3. Travel expenses
4. 81 days of wages for the days I was prevented from moving from Singapore because Digital failed to file tax clearance.

and more…….

This was Digital Realty’s Response

 “The debts mentioned in Mr. Somers’ September 2, 2016 letter were unnecessary,  personal to Mr. Somers, unrelated to the execution of his work duties, and/or incurred after employment stopped.”

How did Josh Mills figure the costs I incurred for housing in Singapore were unrelated to my employment in Singapore?  Digital’s positions throughout this litigation have been impossible.

More Digital Realty Cruelty.