Dear Evil HR Lady,
In my small group of 15 people at my company, three were fired for “performance reasons.” Each of these people were employed for more than 10 years. Normally, under-performing employees in this company are laid off, and the company has had a lot of layoffs. In firing them instead of laying them off, the company saved money on severance, which is normally paid at one week of severance per year worked. When it fires people, the company will give the terminated employee up to two weeks salary. The company asked each of these employees to resign instead of being fired. Two chose to resign when asked. One refused and got a lawyer to negotiate an agreement. The company is currently hiring in my group just after the last recent termination.
There are also major gender discrimination issues here. In my second-level boss’s organization of 70 people, I am the only woman. There were two other women — one was fire, one quit. This boss has attempted to fire me four times in my four-and-a-half years, but has not been successful. I am planning to leave (the job and the industry) soon and decided that if I were fired prior to when I was ready to leave I would file complaints with both the state and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But if I could leave on my own terms when ready, I would not file complaints. I have documentation for numerous discrimination events and am still within my 300 days for filing.
I have already decided to leave and have been accepted into an academic program. What might I have done differently in these circumstances? What is the best course of action for an employee who is fired, but then asked to resign? That could easily have been my fate.
To read the answer click here: How do I know if I should quit my awful job?