Thread: Is this appropriate!

Now most of you know I lost my job. This question is about how I was laid off.


I was left a message in my voicemail box on Monday morning. I just got my COBRA information by mail tonight. Other than that I have had no communication from anyone where I used to work. I find that in poor taste.

What do you all think?

Anyone with similar experiences?

You were informed of your termination by voice mail?! That's appallingly inappropriate. I've had to terminate a couple people. It's hard to do, but I think the terminated person deserves to receive the news in person.

No Tim, that's definitely not appropriate. Is there an official body that you can lodge a complaint with?

I know it's not much of a consolation, but it sounds like you may be better off not working for these gutless people.

James.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Now most of you know I lost my job. This question is about how I was laid off.


I was left a message in my voicemail box on Monday morning. I just got my COBRA information by mail tonight. Other than that I have had no communication from anyone where I used to work. I find that in poor taste.

What do you all think?

Anyone with similar experiences?

It certainly was in poor taste. It should have been done in person. If your superior was located remotely from your office, at the very least (s)he should have talked to you on the phone. What were the terms of your employment? Was any company policy violated by the process? If a number of you were treated in a similar fashion, you might contact a lawyer for a possible class action suit? At the very least you can write a letter to the local newspaper and expose how callously the company treats their employees.

As they old saying goes, what goes around comes around. One never knows when someone they've screwed may reappear as their boss or customer in the future... and guess what happens then... paybacks can be a bitch.

The plain hard truth is more and more companies are doing just that. Increasingly there is no such thing a company loyalty or employee loyalty. You are just there exchanging you labor for a wage and that can be terminated at any time for no reason. Unless the termination involves an EEO matter or they fire you for cause and you disagree with it there isn't much you can do. I'm not sure that a face to face termination is all that better. I know people who came in to work in the morning and were greeted by an HR person and a security guard and were ushered out the door 30 minutes later. Most concerns are looking to get rid of their employees as painlessly as possible to them.

In most places, if not all, there aren't any laws regarding notice of termination. One large company laid off an entire workforce via cell phone text message. Another had employees go into a large room and were given one of two colored folders. Employees were then told to go to an exit out of the auditorium based on color. One exit went back to work, one went into th street. Radio Shack fired 400 people via e-mail.

The worst I've had done is being threatened to have to do more work in order to keep my job (with no raise)- even though I was one of the most valuable employees. I found another job that day and put in my two weeks

That is pretty pathetic. Makes me think the leadership is pretty spineless. I have had to lay people off (I reserve the term "fire" for negative performance types)...I met with them along with our boss, advised them of the reason (not their fault), and then started the out processing: reviewed their resume to help them update it, advised where to post, guided their handing off of work to other staff, made sure they understood their benefits and final pay procedures, even made sure they used their corp. card points before they canceled their card.

Poor leadership....plain and simple.

Colorado is a "right to work" state, so you can be let go with no notice or explanation, but you can also walk off the job and not give notice or explanation.

Contact your State's Department of Labor...they may be able to give some guidance, but as already stated, unless there was an EEO or contractual/policy violation, there's not much you can do, other than get the word out. I had a friend who worked in recruiting...he was constantly trying to get IT staff for a major chemical company...but they treated folks so badly that when interviewees heard the name, they stopped the interview....so it does come around.

What is your profession?

Greg

I recently gave up a part time job because of harrassment by the higher ups. Even though I had not done what they said I did, they chose to write me up and suspend me without pay. The thing they said I did was a relatively minor thing, just a helpful comment I made to a patron that was taken the wrong way. Even more curious, this was the only written warning I had EVER received in 6 + years in this job. But as a guy in a female dominated world (library), I was a target. I should probably have fought it, but like James said, I think I am better off.

But in this place, they can't ever really fire anybody. Too much hassle in county government, so they just harrass you, reassign you to faraway branches, and generally make your life hell until you quit. I just saved 'em some trouble.

Man, Tim, it sucks to be let go that way. I hope you find something much better!

Hell no its not appropriate! I believe the word you were looking for was (and still is) cowardice!!!
If one company, twenty companies, or all the companies in the world fired people in this manner it still wouldn't be appropriate as one here seemed to have suggested!


Mark Avery

Originally Posted by JMS

Hell no its not appropriate! I believe the word you were looking for was (and still is) cowardice!!!
If one company, twenty companies, or all the companies in the world fired people in this manner it still wouldn't be appropriate as one here seemed to have suggested!


Mark Avery

What he said.

This is no way to treat people. My former boss told me that he found firing people one of the hardest things to do, but he always did it in person.

This does seem to happen more in the US than in European countries.
Probably because we have strict laws about termination that make it very hard to fire someone without a very good reason.

Several years ago I was working for a US company that first went boom, but then bust during the bubble burst. I have it from a very reliable source that the CEO was complaining that he couldn't just tell a bunch of people on our site to f*** off and not come back.