Has anyone been in this type of situation? (Job related)

General Questions
#1

Well, I just got let go from my job. I asked why I was let go, but they said the site I work for didn’t give a reason, just that they wanted to change people or something.

I work as a security officer at a corporate company. So, I am a contractor. I have never been written up or disciplined in anyway. Pretty much always on time, so I see nothing wrong there. Have been working there almost 3 years or so.

  1. What do you make of this? Do you think I deserve a reason? I worked pretty hard.
  2. Is there anything I can do? Push for some type of closure?
#2

Odds are that someone didn’t like you and asked that you be removed from the account. Less likely is some spurious accusation resulting in a request to remove you from the site, in which case they thought it was either too stupid to tell you, or your knowledge of it would cause issues (like it wasn’t totally on the up-and-up or possibly even illegal).

I was ‘removed’ from the Midway Perkins account (midnight to 5am in a bad neighborhood) because I (a 46 year old white guy armed only with a gun) refused to wade into a fight between ten 20-something year old gang members. This was less than a month after one of our guys was removed from the site because he DID wade into a fight and beat their asses. Suited me, I had no interest in being there given the shit that constantly went down.

I was ‘removed’ after one day from a liquor store account because there was too much shoplifting while I was there, forced to remain at the front door with only a couple of very brief restroom breaks in an 8 hour shift. Two days after another guy had been removed for the same reason. One of their complaints was that someone lifted some expensive Patron from a spot that I couldn’t see, but they had a ‘manager’ within 10 feet of it, and somehow that was my fault.

At another job (contracted security) the clients demanded that we get rid of a guy because he always stomped around in these big heavy boots “looking like his entire world had ended” (as they said) and they didn’t like the visual bad attitude. A short time later the guy got fired for a dress code violation.

#3

I think that morally you deserve a reason, but you won’t get one. HR will instruct the person in charge to stay tight lipped lest they say something that might open them up to a lawsuit. They told you a lie, but it is one that they will stick with.

Sorry about the job loss. I’ve been there and it sucks. Try to move on…

#4

Thanks guys. As for someone not liking me, it’s kind of a weird thing, because I have no supervisor looking over me and I made friends with many workers (actual employees that work there). I can’t think of any enemies there. There could very well be someone who didn’t like me, but I can’t think of one. I didn’t even come in contact with many people, because I worked swing shift and most people left within 2 hours of when I started.

The guy from the security branch said I did nothing wrong, but OBVIOUSLY there has to be a reason. I HATE not knowing. :frowning:

#5

BTW, hardly any action happened at the site. Like every now and then we would get someone who would look through the dumpsters, but that’s it. 90% of the time it was very quiet.

#6

I think you have fewer rights as a contractor. If you are on salary, you can be fired for cause, but then they have to document the cause, or laid off, but then they can’t hire someone else to fill your position for some period (something like three to six months). In some cases they even have to pay you severance. Still, a long term contractor might have some of the same rights. It could be worth looking into.

#7

Nah, I got paid hourly. No contract.

#8

Not in at-will employment situations (which most are). You can be fired for any reason or no reason, except for illegal reasons like race, gender, religion, etc.

The only problem is if they actually give a reason which turns out not to be true. Say the boss told the OP that he was fired because he showed up for work drunk and that was not true. Then the OP now has a cause of action for defamation or whatever other theory some lawyer wants to put forth. That’s why HR has the standard line for letting someone go and they conceal the real reason.

#9

While some reason/closure might be nice, as others have said, they don’t need to give it and what’s done is done so there’s really no reason to push for it…it sucks but I’d advise not burning any bridges and just moving on (does the security company you work for have another assignment for you?)