I agree that when someone is fired in a situation like this, the best thing to do is have them leave the premises ASAP. A friend of mine was laid off, along with a bunch of other people, due to downsizing, not even baad performance. They were walked to their desks and given two hours to pack all their stuff and get out. That’s probably what would need to be done in this case, which seems awfully cold but really is necessary to prevent the vandalism, theft, and sabotage that could happen.
My husband – who was a manager – was laid off, not fired for cause, even, and was met at the door of his boss’s office after receiving his pink slip by security, who escorted him to his desk to clear it and then straight out of the building.
What they didn’t count on was that the head of security was a friend of my hubby’s who realized he was being screwed by being laid off, so he insisted that my husband remove everything that wasn’t nailed down when he left. We ended up with a couple of really nice power strips and such that he had no intention of removing from the premises, except the head of security insisted they belonged to him, and who was he to argue with security as he was being escorted out the door? 
But I second the vote for changing/revoking any access she has the moment she walks out the door, if not while she’s on her way out. And have some security personnel standing by to escort her out. If she complains she’s being treated like a criminal, cite “company policy.” You just don’t have to say which company’s policy.
Just so I’m clear on this, are you suggesting that stealing from the company is justified if one is laid off? Was your husband forced to take these items, or was he simply unable to counter the security guard’s logic?
This is, in fact, part of procedure. Since we deal with confidential information which is all over the building as well as a great deal of expensive lab equipment, the office is accessable only by card-key. That gets handed in the second we tell her she’s terminated. No one owns more than one, but I think I’ll verify that she’s never reported one lost. Thanks for making me think of it.
The security guard put them in his box and said, “These are yours. You’re taking them.” He tried to argue with him and was overruled. “I’m the chief of security and I say these are yours.”
So he took them.
Yeah, the mothers are usually the easiest ones to talk to. I’ve always found the sisters to be the worst - worse even than the wives or girlfriends.
Then he stole them, plain and simple. I’m sorry he was laid off, but there’s never an excuse for theft. Yeah, his buddy tried to do him some sort of favour, but your husband should still have said “no”.
There was ome time where they fired my buddy, he took away boxes of stuff, and I think he did what was right. He worked for a small chain bookstore. They went Chapter 11 without warning, and he was out of a job, and there was no way he’d get his last paycheck. I dorve him over to get his personal effect. The only other guy there was the ass’t mgr, a nebbish but real sorry about the whole thing. I looked at my freind and said- “How much do they owe you? We’re taking it out in books!” and we then loaded the truck.
What you did no doubt felt right, but I’m pretty sure it was in fact theft. There are a whole bunch of laws that deal with insolvency, and I’m fairly certain employees don’t get to take what they want from the business in lieu of wages. Which is too bad, because that might be all they do get, but the laws are the laws, fair or not.
Wasn’t the axe supposed to fall today? What happened Maureen?
She lives in California…they’re not done for the day yet. Give her a couple of hours.
I don’t know how it is in your part of the country, but on my calendar it’s still Monday and a holiday. She was planning to fire her on Tuesday.
Ah…forgot about that. I mean, I’m off work today, but I’m a government employee and we get off for everything but Wintereenmas…
Yup, FatBaldGuy has it right. I’m posting from home today (for a change). The head of HR will be in my office tomorrow morning, 8:30am for a much needed assist.
sigh…I hate firing people. I really, really do. Obviously, as it’s taken me all this crap to get around to it.
In cases like this, you need to accept the joy of firing people. Sure it sucks to be hern, but it isn’t like she hasn’t had a ton of chances. And everyone who works with her will be happier. It sucks to be an employee where someone deserved to get fired long ago - especially if the behavior has been personal in nature (sucks when they are incompetant and don’t do their job, too). Remember how much nicer the office will be for everyone when they stop wondering what shit she will get away with next.
I know. And that’s precisely what’s keeping me resolved to getting her out the door. It’s going to mean some overtime and spending some more cash to find someone to fill the spot and then training that person, but the benefits are going to outweigh the drawbacks by a long shot.
The main reason I hate firing people is that I’m taking away their self sufficiency. This is an expensive area, and I know I myself am about two paychecks away from having to sell my house. I don’t put that on anyone else lightly. But I can’t justify giving her another chance.
Sometimes there’s a kind of bad virus that goes around when one employee gets away with crap. It makes the other, good, employees see the unfairness of the situation and can lead to resentment, and a kind of truculent “me too” attitude. She doesn’t come back from lunch on time, why should I? She surfs the web instead of working, why can’t I? She spends 15 minutes ‘getting coffee’, why can’t I? She calls in sick when she’s not, why can’t I? Infection sets in.
Then you need to work for PennDOT, because they get that day off, too.
Robin
Wooden shoes, wooden head, woulden listen
You can do what my former employer used to do. It didn’t happen often, but once in awhile an otherwise good employee would violate one of the rules that mandate termination – sleeping on the job, damaging company property (however slightly), fighting (even if it was self-defense).
They’d file for unemployment, we’d respond as required, the Commission would find in our favor, the employee would appeal, and we’d drop it there. It’s usually enough for the employer to fail to follow through at that point – don’t show up for the hearing, lose the paperwork, whatever – and the employee wins.
It seemed like the Commissioners bent over backwards to favor the employee anyway. We were never sure if the Commission hated our company, if it was a worker bias, or if they were just sympathetic to folks who had families to support.
I know they had some thoughts about my husband’s company, because when he was fired, the Commissioner told him the company had had an unusually high number of terminations, and they couldn’t believe they were all justified. “New management, huh?”