Unjust termination

[neospice]

My gf recently got laid off from her job and wasn't given much reason as to why. It was also a sudden thing where she had to pack up her stuff and leave in the middle of the day. She was given 2 weeks extra pay and vacation I guess as the severance. She asked if she could use them as a reference, and they said unfortunately no. Are employers obligated to give them? I think she qualifies for EI, so maybe she can get that... what else should she do.

Some background: its a decently sized law firm, well when I say decent its owned by a man and his wife, maybe about 40 employees - 10 lawyers, rest assistance staff. She has been working there for about 6 months now, her probationary period was after 3 months when everything was going good. She's in charge of assisting the lawyers, electronically filing the documents and mostly paperwork... she's currently in school for a legal clerk part time, working full time. When asked why she was fired, all they said was something to the effect of "we feel that you could have been more productive" and that the firm is "expanding" and we are looking for someone with a specific skill set. In the same day another girl who was working for 2 years also got let go. My gf thinks its maybe cause she was emailing a lot, friends and me. I somehow doubt it. I told her its very unusual for a place to let go of someone out of the blue without giving them a reference and VERY unprofesional, so I'm thinking she must have pissed someone off but she says no. The person she was assisting was also surprised so it seems like a spur of the moment thing. Anyways, just trying to find out why someone might do this so suddenly and rudely and what course of action there is.

[sunnybono]

I would try to contact the person that she was working for (the one that was surprised) to get some more info. From there you can determine whether you need to contact a good labour lawyer or not.

sk

[poorwingman]

i'm not saying they're perfect. but presumably, a law firm would know what actions would be within its rights or not

[brute33]

just to clarify

being laid off is when a company no longer can keep you and has no more work for you.

being fired is when the company is not happy with you for one reason or another.

You mentioned both...which is it?

If the company was not satisfied with her work then they are justified in firing her. I'm not saying this to be mean but people do not "own" their jobs/careers. It's a privileage to be employed not your right.

ps. i also know someone that lost their job because of lots of email. As a result I rarely email friends and family at their work because i don't want it on my consience that I may have been a small part in someone losing their job.

[brute33]

if she has evaluations saying she did good work then you might have a case.

[rc51]

Companies are in no way obligated to give a reference, I think if they do it's based on professional courtesy. My last company had a policy of specifically NOT providing references on a company level. And think about it, if a company is firing a person, why would you want a reference from them.

As for 'being more productive', it would be hard to prove that she was productive to their standards, and there's possibly other reasons too that maybe they didn't share.

Your post seems to be slanted that its the company's fault...and no fault of your GF..I'm not saying that she is at fault but maybe she's just not up to their standard. Once again, hard to prove.

Put yourself in their shoes, if you had an employee who you think wasn't performing as well as someone with that skillset or experience should, what would you do?

[tvp2003]

Assuming she isn't part of a union (as a legal assistant, probably not), the employer can terminate her employment at any time, so long as they give reasonable notice (here, they gave 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice, which for 6 months is probably sufficient). They don't even have to give you a reason; the key is getting reasonable notice, which was given.

[anitanium]

it's possible that they're just short of money?

[BuildBuyBreed]

Can do much about it if it's a layoff... you get compensation and can collect EI and (depending on the company) can return once there is work available again.

If she was fired, then they have to give cause and reason.

And as POORWINGMAN said, if it's a law firm, it's highly likely they know what they're doing and thus cover their asses very well.

Companies do not have to give a reference if they don't want to... and they can't give negative references either way.

[TotallyKiller]

If she has a documented job description then it might be easier to see if she was living up to their expectations. If not, then it's easy for them to say she wasn't performing.

[ullyeus]

I'd call is a lesson learned.

I would also tell your girlfriend to stop fooling around at work (e-mailing, etc) and to try to pay more attention to her surroundings.

and the reference thing...why do you and her both think it would be a good idea to get a reference from a company that fired her (or laid her off) due to performance issues?

[neospice]

It's not about getting let go that is the real issue, but rather the method with which they did it. I've worked with several big companies and I know it is in very poor taste for a company to just let someone go without giving them just reason and allowing them to use a reference. Its very important to have that reference, because a prospective employer will ask about your last employer and why they can't contact the supervisor. The least the company could have done was to give a more detailed reason - sure maybe by law they don't have to - but I know if i was fired I would like to know the exact reason so I could make sure I don't do it in the future. The way they did it was rather unprofessional. If she wasn't performing, then where was the warnings or criticisms? She got good feedback from the lawyers, so I doubt it was that. She did get one warning one time for coming in late (due to traffic) about 2 months ago, thats all she could think about.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand if an employer has to get rid of an employee... for whatever reason. But state that reason, clearly.

[neospice]

I'd call is a lesson learned.

I would also tell your girlfriend to stop fooling around at work (e-mailing, etc) and to try to pay more attention to her surroundings.

and the reference thing...why do you and her both think it would be a good idea to get a reference from a company that fired her (or laid her off) due to performance issues?

Its not about performance issues... she performed well, and got praised for doing so. Its about not being given the chance to improve, or being told about what went wrong that is the issue. If she applies and can't have a reference then there will be a gap in her previous employment and it will look bad. Now if she comes to work every day, does good work and then gets fired, thats not right. If the work was poor, then they need to clearly state howso.

[xwar]

Sorry, but this type of thing happens all the time. Just get her to move on and find something better. Good luck.

[boneca]

I would suggest that she call the Labour Standards office in your area....they would know best....IMO what they did isn't fair and if they already hired someone to replace her she may be able to fight back. What they did is illegal in my workplace.