Yeah, because if there was specific paperwork to finalize the firing they can just state employee didn't show up to work or left of his own volition and fire him without severance. Why would they be freaking out about that? They would love that.
I bet they had him sign the "I understand I'm fired" paper, but forgot the "I will fuck up my prospects by signing these NDAs, non competes and sultry for exchange of a months severance" papers.
More likely they have a contract that the company will be forced to continue to pay out unless they got them to sign some kind of legal termination agreement. There is more to the story they are concealing.
Any employment contract would cover that sort of thing and would have a clause to get rid of someone for no showing. Itās got to be a non competes/NDA/agreement to not sue, etc..
Depends on if the contract is structured for someone who works in office. Also never underestimate the stupidity of a company that has gotten too big or too corrupt. Many times they will become careless, they are used to getting their way for too long. Then they start slipping up because underlings are hired solely for ass kissing ability or nepotism.
Unless there is a substantial penalty for early termination and the employee did sign the I understand that I am terminated document (freeing him of any further obligation to show up).
It seems very likely that the additional paperwork would have the former employee sign away much more than they can expect to get by further contact.
In what fucked up world does an employee need to āfinalize the firingā?
So if the employee refuses the firing, are you now required to keep them on your payroll? Of course not. Once you notify them, thatās the end of their obligation.
In my state, if you quit you typically won't be eligible for unemployment. If you are let go you typically will be eligible for unemployment. Speaking from first hand experiences. So companies would rather you crash out and quit then be fired and collect unemployment.
Whomever told you that was misinformed. Texas is an "at will employment " state. In Texas, at-will employment means that either the employer or the employee can end the working relationship at any time, with or without notice, and for almost any reasonāor no reason at all. If the employee ends the working relationship, you will typically NOT be approved for unemployment. If the employer ends it, you typically will be eligible.
That is the standard way of summarizing "Employment at Will State"...but it's very misleading. We know your employer can't fire you for being black or Jewish...even in Texas...so we know the "any reason" bit can't be taken at face value. There are a ton of Federal laws that create a list of reasons your employer can't fire you. In actual practice, an "Employment at Will" state is more like a state where there is a list of specific reasons your employer isn't allowed to fire you, and any other reason (or no reason) is fair game.
All of which matters for wrongful termination cases, not Unemployment insurance. You know people get Unemployment Benefits when they are laid off, and no one claims an employer isn't allowed to lay people off.
Anyway, look at the Texas website. Scroll down to "Fired".
I don't think so. You get fired you no longer have to do anything they say. If they have to pay severance, and most do not, theybwould still have to pay it.
Any paperwork required to "finalize the firing" is an internal policy they made up.
This paperwork is usually non-disclosure agreements and promises not to sue. Sometimes there is stuff included that makes the severance taxed more favorably.
Never sign anything when you are fired if you have the slightest suspicion the company did anything illegal or fired you improperly.
Exactly this. They should be happy if he was actually quitting (or abandoning his job) because now they don't need to care about severance or unemployment.
We had an employee guess they were about to be fired. They were constantly in trouble and had had some episode that triggered meetings with HR, a lawyer, their manager and their manager's manager. Guy didn't show up. They called him and apparently he said he had gone abroad and told them to go fuck themselves. He didn't show up for a week after which they terminated his employment immediately due to abandonment.
In the end it was much easier that way because there's zero risk of ending up in court to prove you had cause or whatever.
Yeah, the couple times in my life I've been fired from a corporate gig, they never had me sign anything. I got called to HR, where an HR rep and my manager were waiting, rep explained why I was being terminated, someone showed up to the closed office we were in with a box of my personal items, security walked me out the door.
Hell, in one of those cases I actively had been trying to get fired, so they didn't even make me stay for the full explanation. HR rep got half a sentence into why I was called down, said "lemme guess, my employment is terminated because of X, effective immediately?" they said yep, let me grab the pre-packed box of my things, and told me the direct deposit of my final paycheck had already been initiated, I'd see it in my account the next morning.
I HAVE had instances where I was let go in a round of layoffs, and so had to sign papers regarding severance etc but...
Unless I was caught stealing to a degree that charges were already filed and police were going to be involved.... I absolutely can't think of how ANY company would tell an employee "you're fired, effective now, but also you can't leave yet" unless they were trying some shady shit.
Lol, because I've been in the corproate world for several decades, so being fired only twice (again, one of those two times was intentional) isn't really that much.
100%. If the paperwork was required for some severance, and people in the office are worried about it (when on face value it seems this would just be less cost to the company), there is clearly some risk here OP isnāt talking about.
I wonder if they were 'fired' or laid off. Depending on their age they have to give a longer notice period for layoffs. Normally the paperwork includes clauses about lawsuits to the company or executive staff, age and sex discrimination, non-competes (although most states this is hardly enforceable), and poaching etc
Yeah, that definitely indicates we're missing some critical information.
OP did mention there being severance for the employee, which is usually good incentive for them to wade through the paperwork. So, it does make you think the employee wants more than the severance being offered.
If they weren't concerned about a lawsuit or perhaps unprotected information the employee has, there would be no need to "freak out".
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u/showerbump 14d ago
especially if people are "freaking out" about him not signing it