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Working Moms
sugarbear0524
member
HR Moms--help, please
sugarbear0524
member
in Working Moms
My DH was "let go" last week. He was on time every day, met all his deadlines, got very little (but all positive) feedback, and worked late every night with few exceptions. He also worked remotely on weekends at times. He had never been written up and had nothing but positive feedback on his performance.
We thought everything was great. He thought he was going into a regular meeting, instead they dropped the bomb on him. Totally out of the blue. He was absolutely floored. They gave him some BS about "not being a good fit". So, since when is working late, meeting deadlines, and getting along with everyone "not a good fit"?
We found out later through a friend who was also a co-worker that my DH's boss was just the messenger. He said that letting DH go was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. His co-workers couldn't believe it. They were all upset.
How do you explain this to a future employer when you don't understand it yourself?
ETA--He filed for unemployment and that it held up because he said that he didn't know why he was terminated. Anyone know anything about this side of things?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: HR Moms--help, please
Hmmm....this sounds fishy. I'm an HR Director, and there is no way that this type of action would fly at our large S&P 500 company unless there was some kind of downsizing or reduction in force (where he would be told that and there would likely be others affected). Questions that immediately come to mind for me:
How long was he there before being let go?
Is the company large enough to have an HR department? If so, has he reached out to understand what the reason for his termination was? He has the right to review his personnel file, which should have some kind of documentation of the termination.
Did he receive any kind of separation or severance pay, and/or was he asked to sign any type of separation agreement?
Other than the "good fit" message, did they cite any specific examples of what lead to the decision to terminate his employment? Job performance, personal issues with co-workers, etc?
In terms of your question on what to tell a future employer, I would probably just say something like my company made the decision to reorganize and that my role was let go with very little explanation. Our company only verifies dates of employment and position held--no separation information. Now, if he decides to use former coworkers or bosses as professional references, he may want to have conversations with them ahead of time to be sure of what they would say to the future employer.
Will baby #3 be another girl?
]
This is a pretty big company (2,500 employees or so) and they have an HR department. Someone from HR was present when DH was let go.
He was there a little over 90 days. This was the end of a probationary period, but as I said, he never got anything buy positive feedback (and very little of that). He did sign something, but I don't know what it said. He was so stunned, I think he just signed what they gave him and that was that. I know that they can terminate anyone for any reason at any time, but this just seemed so unfair.
They didn't give any feedback as to why, other than "not a good fit". DH has considered e-mailing his former boss, who apparently did not agree with this decision, to find out more and to possibly ask him to be a reference.
He was working 9 hours a day with a consultant, who was stunned (and angry) when he found out that this happened. The consultant offered to be a reference, as did DH's friend/co-worker.
I'm not in HR, but I was let go unexpectedly from a law firm several years ago. I had not received any negative feedback beforehand. The partner told me that I was not a good fit for the company because they did not have a lot of the type of work that I like to do. He asked if I wanted to resign instead of being let go, but I did not want to resign because that was not the actual reason for my termination. And I was able to get unemployment for a few weeks until I found another position.
People are let go from employers for unfair reasons, silly reasons, or no reason at all. As long as there is no illegal reason for the termination (such as discrimination or violation of some other public policy) the employer can let the employee go. At least your husband can get unemployment while he looks for a new job.
The whole situation sounds sucky and like they (whoever that is) were looking for something different than what he was offering. The whole "boss not being on board with the term" thing really confuses me--especially if the decision to let him go was based on the probationary period performance. However, as you have said, unless there was something discriminatory going on, and it does not sound like it, they do have the right to just decide to let him go. Not at all how I would handle it though.
I would encourage him to reach out to his HR rep to request a copy of the termination paperwork, explaining that he'd like to see the reason for termination for unemployment and new job application purposes, and also to verify what is provided during an employment verification. Also, email his boss and request that he provide a professional reference.
Will baby #3 be another girl?
]
I would really think about not doing this--if he leaves it off and completes/signs a job application that has the "fine print" about the truthfulness and honesty of the application and then they find out through a background check or other source or simply ask about the gap in his resume, they would catch him in a lie. Not good.
Will baby #3 be another girl?
]