Hi Everyone, I was terminated last week as a result of 'CPE/WBL - Answer Sharing'. I have been stirring trying to figure out where to vent. I figure this community may be the right place since what I have to share may be informative but also cautionary.

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Here is the sequence:

Two weeks ago two peers and I had meetings placed on our calendars with members from EY Legal. The calls were slated for 60 minutes and titled "Internal Ongoing Investigation".

During the call the two members from Legal explained that an investigation is going on to identify individuals who have shared answers on Web-Based Learnings (WBLs). As background, each year EY employees are required to complete 40 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits. The members from Legal then showed me 2 PDFs from October 2019-January 2020 in which they had two emails and MS Teams messages between me and my peers which contained answers to the WBL quizzes. I need to further state that these WBL quizzes were electives; allowing for anyone to select any material that interested them. None of the course materials were requirements as part of our job functions nor ethics. The course the investigators cited was "Introduction: Microsoft Word". I wanted to be transparent and honest. I informed the members from Legal that I had indeed shared answers in the past for this training to save 30 minutes but I no longer did this since then. They asked many questions pertaining to "When/Why did you stop?". I had stopped for a couple reasons: (1) I no longer worked with any of the same peers and (2) I had heard EY was going to perform an investigation and the quizzes were very straightforward so it wasn't really worth sharing answers to cut corners.

At the end of the call with Legal I was told I would hear the results of the investigation later that week. I heard nothing from Legal until the morning before the Fourth of July week off (summer break). On that day, a meeting appeared on my calendar with my local Partner and a member from Legal. I was told I was terminated effective immediately and I would receive no severance because I had violated a policy. The policy violation was not explained on the call and my account was locked less than 3 hours after that phone call.

I am not saying what I have done isn't wrong however here is what is eating at me:

1. Of the three peers who had exchanged answers, only 2 of us were terminated. The member who was not terminated was given a slap on the wrist. He was told not to cheat any more and required to re-take some WBL courses and pay $250 from his Performance Based Bonus (PBB). The three of us have connected since then and compared all of the evidence disclosed to us. From what we can tell there was no difference among our conversations with Legal nor the evidence shared. The findings of the investigation were not disclosed to any of us three.
2. The results of the investigation ONLY included evidence from January 2020 and prior. The evidence was over 20-months old and the termination came the same month where EY pays out annual PBBs (8k-10k) and promotion bonuses (8k-12k). I was slated to receive both bonuses equaling 16-20k as well as my manager title (which I confirmed with my Counselor that I was on-track to receive the following month). Other than this, the average salary jump is to be provided in July where I anticipate my salary would have jumped from 108,300 to 125,000-130,000. The timing of the investigation result's disclosure, 20-months after the fact, cost me an estimated 16-20k in bonuses alone.
3. From what I have heard from peers, severance at EY is 1 month per year at the Firm. I had been at the Firm for 4.8 years and would expect at least 4 months of salary. However, the separation form specified I will not receive any severance per the "Policy Violation". The details of this Policy Violation were never provided. Further, on the separation form, EY has not listed "Voluntary" or "Involuntary" which leaves me with no legal bearing to fight my case.
4. Since 7/2/21, I spoke with all of my immediate team members. Each of them said they could not believe that I was terminated over sharing WBL answers and no one from my department, including my Counselor, had any insight into this investigation. From what I've gathered, and what my peers have confirmed, over 50% of employees at EY have shared answers on these WBLs at least once in his or her career. The fact is, the data analytic queries that the Legal team ran had identified me and not others. Other peers just communicated over phone calls or in person and none of that evidence is traceable.

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Please let me know if anyone else has heard or experienced something like this.