Insane work situation.

[Gregg]

Long story short: My wife's Manager got fired. She asked for and was given permission to work the last 30 days. She is in the field with the home office in Utah. All of her team are in Illinois and Wisconsin.
My wife was an installer for telephones for the deaf. She was promoted to trainer 4 months ago. She has not been written up. She loves both jobs. The Manager started criticizing my wife's work, accusing her of taking time off, and verbally abusing her. All of it unfounded. I see her work hard. She has many surveys that compliment her work. When my wife called HR to ask for help they said they would look into it. After two days they told her to get a hold of her managers manager. They got on a three way call. The top manager told my wife she is still your boss and you must do what she says and they will talk after Ann (wife's mgr.) is gone. In the interim my wife's Mgr. has demoted her stating that the home office is aware and backing the situation and that she will be contacted sometime in Oct. Today is the Manager's last day.

Given that the top Manager has told my wife to do what the fired manager says, she feels like she cannot contact the top Manager (who failed to help her already) until tomorrow. It looks to me that my wife's manager has told lies and set her up to fail.

In 37 years of business I have never seen anything so unprofessional and insanely unfair. There are many more insane details that I could share, but it would take way too long.

This is a very large company. They should know better. Who allows a fired person to work the last 30 days? And why are they believing/backing her without giving my wife her say. This is a very sad situation.

[nullnor]

im not good with this sort of thing. i just try to not sign any voluntary arbitration thing and then sue them in court if it goes south.

[DMT]

That is ridiculous and I agree that she should consider hiring an attorney if her new boss is unwilling to hear her side of the story.

[Erik]

This is a very large company. They should know better.

In my experience, very large companies tend to be the worst at handling this sort of thing.

It sounds like she's just gotta reconvene with the manager's manager tomorrow and try to undo whatever damage has been done.

[james33]

Every company is different, so I'm offering this advice-out-of-my-butt out of alot of ignorance. But that never stopped me before.

Higher-ups don't like dealing with personnel issues, so I wouldn't advise your wife to talk to manager's manager on the very first day of freedom demanding reinstatement. Even though your wife got screwed, it'll seem somewhere between a headache and selfish (I'm not saying it is selfish; just speculating on what a higher-up might view it as)

Instead, here's what I'd suggest.

1) Wait a couple days before talking to the higher-up.

Then, at the meeting:

2) Offer to take on some of the supervisory tasks / managerial tasks that her fired boss once did. Write those specific tasks up that she can take on. Express confidence that she can do them. There's a decent chance that the higher-up, while happy the boss is gone, is taking on some paperwork tasks that he/she used to do.

3) Remind higher-up of past positive evaluations. Diplomatically state she has concerns with how past supervisor worked, and she's looking forward to contributing more now.

4) Ask that, if the higher-up is happy with what she's done, could she be reinstated as supervisor at the end of the year.

[Pogues]

Sounds similar to how my wife got hosed in her first year of teaching. She not only was put out front by the principal for a decision that was made (which my wife was only peripherally involved in making) but was given reviews of her work that, while showing improvement over the course of the year, the principal recommended she be terminated. The principal was officially terminated a week after the decision on my wife was made, and though the vice-principal, her mentor, and team leader all said she was exceptional, the school board ran with the terminated principal's recommendation.

I hope things turn out better for your wife...I think a slower approach is better. But don't wait too long...the bitterness of the manager's poor performance needs to remain fresh to the higher-up.

[chancellor]

Demotion because the company is stupid, sadly, is not a protected work class. Now if your wife has any evidence of abusive behavior (not unprofessional), then the option of getting a good employment lawyer is there. I'm assuming she's an employee at will and does not have a contract and is not part of a union.

[Judge Jude]

I'm not seeing how the problem automatically continues with the nut out of there. can't your wife just talk to sane people, old and new, as of now, and explain why she should get placed back in her old role?

I realize when you're in the middle of the storm it's hard for any of us to focus, but maybe this isn't really going to be a longterm problem?

[Gregg]

Thank you for all the responses.

My wife has sent the upper manager and email requesting a discussion and asking for her job back. We will see what happens.

In what business world do you fire somebody and then let them stay on for 30 days? Most of the time they walk you out. They may pay you, but you certainly wouldn't have access to computers, files, and personnel.

[swampdragon]

I was once laid off from a job and given 30 days notice

They did it a favor and they still needed me to work - my personality didnt fit in a law firm - I have a personality, like to help, am not petty, and dont keep track of useless little things

They said "spend the time to find a job" - I did that and gave them a list of all of the things that still needed to be done once I left (they kind of thought that I would do the tasks - but hey I did give them a list) - and since I was in technology support I had access to a lot of information

[nullnor]

Thank you for all the responses.

My wife has sent the upper manager and email requesting a discussion and asking for her job back. We will see what happens.

In what business world do you fire somebody and then let them stay on for 30 days? Most of the time they walk you out. They may pay you, but you certainly wouldn't have access to computers, files, and personnel.

im my experience only when they are planning on closing the plant and they need to keep extra ppl around to complete the move. so it's more of a lay off than a firing. the best thing is to stay persistent. the most important thing to companies is keeping positive ppl that like and want to keep their job. it costs money to replace ppl. and sometimes a lot of money.

some companies like heinze for example even offered ppl money to either quit or stay based on how enthusiastic and motivated they were. human resources are most receptive to that. ppl that just say ok and walk away, and many do. but ppl that positively state their reasons for staying are heard.

[nullnor]

and if it's a situation where they are closing a plant or a department and moving it somewhere than you have to figure out where they are going and find the next closest location and move there with them. you put in your resume to there before they officially move. and get there before someone else does.

[dslaw]

In what business world do you fire somebody and then let them stay on for 30 days? Most of the time they walk you out. They may pay you, but you certainly wouldn't have access to computers, files, and personnel.

I got about a 45 notice the time I was laid off. I worked in the compliance dept for a health care company so maybe they didn't want to make me too mad since I had seen all the dirty laundry in the company and had the number of the OIG in DC. The best part of the story is that I had done a special project earlier in the year and, after I got my layoff notice, the manager of that dept called me in his office, shut the door and proceeded to tell me how I was a great employee and the company was really lucky to have me. I was expecting a job offer in his department until he handed me a bonus check for a couple thousand and said "see you later".

[Gregg]

Thanks again for all the responses.

I think there is big difference between being laid off, permanent laid off, and fired. My wife's manager was fired. She was told it was because her numbers were bad.

[bryanbutler]

it is strange to have someone fired for cause and then allowed to continue for any period, much less 30 days. i've never heard of it, nor has my wife who's been working in HR for 25 years.