I was given a “talking to” by the group manager at work on Friday saying that there’s a possibility I may be fired come Monday. (Bless his stony heart for giving me advance notice.) I was also told not to come in today (Sunday)since I normally work the Sunday-Thursday shift, and that the group mgr would talk to me on Monday. What that tells me is that termination is pretty much a definite.
I know there are some of you that have had experience in this sort of thing before. Is it better to:
quit before they fire me, so that future employers see that I left on my own accord
let them fire me and collect unemployment if possible
What are the reasons they want to fire you? If they are firing you for cause (e.g. stealing), you maybe not be entitled to unemployment anyway, depending on the state you live in. In any case, I’d let them decide to fire you or not. It might be that they won’t, in which case you’d be quitting for no reason. I’d start looking in the newspapers and checking internet job sites, though.
Since you don’t know that you’re going to be fired (even though you know you are) just go in and get the speech. As noted, if you quit you are not eligible for unemployment.
It’s a job with a mutual fund company, and I’ve been there almost four years. I certainly wasn’t stealing (it goes against my moral fiber) but apparently I violated their code of ethics.
You can certainly use them as a reference. What they will say to prospective employers depends on the company. Most employers today will not verify anything beyond dates of employment out of fear of being sued for giving a bad reference. If you leave them off your resume, prospective employers are going to wonder what you’ve been doing for the last four years. It sounds like you’re going to have an exit interview so ask at the interview how inquiries will be answered.
You also have the option on most job applications of indicating that you don’t want past employers contacted but what that would do to your chances for the new job I don’t know.
As far as the ethics code violation thing, without knowing the specifics, this may not have too big an effect on your prospects. Something similar happened to me at a job several years ago and I was fired (of course, the fundamentalist Christian manager also had it in for me as an openly gay person which is why he fired me instead of giving me a warning). When I was asked in interviews why I left the previous employer I truthfully explained the situation. As it happened I didn’t know that what I did was a violation of the code of conduct and I explained that too. Never had any problem with it afecting future prospects, but mine was a quite minor breach.
In the U.S., the usual reason that companies allow people to “resign” rather than be “fired”: if you resign, you will not get any unemployment benefits that you might otherwise have received if you were fired or laid off. The amounts and conditions vary by state, but the company ultimately pays unemployment insurance premiums based on the number/amount of unemployment claims arising from its former employees, if you follow me. That is, it is cheaper for the company in the long run if you quit rather than be fired.
So, if you’re going to help them save costs by resigning instead of being fired, you should ask them to sweeten the package to reflect the lost unemployment benefits.
BTW, the company is also protecting itself from lawsuits for unlawful dismissal if you voluntarily resign. That may not be an issue in your situation.
That isn’t strictly true in some states. Here in NJ, for instance, you may be entitled to compensation if you voluntarily terminated your employment with good cause related to the work. You’ll have to go to a hearing with a caseworker to determine if your situation qualifies.
Yep what Q.E.D. said if you were told either resign or be fired and you resign that is the same as a termination becuase you did not really voluntarly leave the employer
No, that’s not right, and that’s not what I said. If you’re given the choice between being fired and resigning voluntarily, you would not be eligible for unemployment in most states if you chose the resignation.
No. As another example, if you quit because your mother was very ill and you had to take care of her, this would be a good cause, certainly, but you would still be ineligible for unemployment, since it was not related to the job.
As QED said. Or if it became obvious that something about the job was damaging your health. But you better have a doctor’s note to that effect BEFORE you quit.
Leaving to care for your mother would come under the family leave act, which is a whole different thing.
