wrongful firing

[robinllanning]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio.
Can a company legally fire someone with an excellent work record and numerable contributions to a a company in order to make room for two new employees to be hired to do his job? He had over 33 years with the company and his masters which was required for the job. He had been the director for 15 years. His assistant they kept has only a BA, 25 years with the company, she's also a woman, 46 years old, and less than four years as the asst. to him. The people the company hired have no experience with the companies line of business to add to the insult. Unfortunately no one wants my husband because this is the only field he was in. This is a job normally promoted from within. Due to Randy's age no one is interested in hiring him. Not even for a much lessor type of job. He's been out of work for 9 months with no hope. What can we do? This has really taken a toll on him.

 

[pattytx]

That's nice.

 

[Andy0192]

I think what Patty is trying to say is that companies are allowed to make decisions regarding their human resources, even if those decisions don't make good business sense.

Cruel, maybe. Unfair, maybe. Illegal? not likely.

 

[justalayman]

patty;

no concern with age discrimination?

 

[commentator]

commentator

Yes, they can, they have, and it is not illegal. There's just no "unfair termination statute" in your state.

Did they fire him, or terminate him or downsize him, (which term?) and did he file for his unemployment benefits as soon as he was out of the job? If not, he should not wait another instant.

If yes, there should be many aspects of re-employment services that he can be taking advantage of through the state's career centers. Not to mention the many private employment agencies.

Though he was always in this one particular line of work, he cannot reasonabley expect to find anything equivalent, or even in the same field. He may be able to take a lesser job and built his way back up into a good job again later with all the management skills and education he posesses.

It's not fair that they can throw him out and hire people at a lesser salary and with less qualifications after he has worked long and faithfully, but it is not illegal.

Has he considered some sort of retraining? Yes, I know that with a master's degree that sounds sort of insulting, but perhaps a course or two in something to make sure he is up to date in all the latest technology. He may be able to get back to work as a consultant, or do temporary work in his field. Has he looked into state and federal government employment? Many of these sorts of jobs give extra credit for having lots of education and practical experience.

This hurts, I know, and I hope that he can get some encouragement soon. Nine months is a long time to be out of work, and I'm sure he's quite downhearted. But this is not an uncommon amount of time in this economy.

 

[las365]

It can't hurt for him to seek a consultation with an experienced employment law attorney to find out whether there is evidence of age discrimination that the attorney feels would be adequate to support a claim. If so, he needs to file with the EEOC quickly, as there is a deadline to do so.

 

[pattytx]

What Patty was saying is that, when the OP first posted, and when she first read the post, there was no text.

 

[Beth3]

Can a company legally fire someone with an excellent work record and numerable contributions to a a company in order to make room for two new employees to be hired to do his job? If you're asking whether it's legal for an employer to make a potentially very bad business decision, the answer is yes.

Because we know nothing about the employer's rationale in letting your husband go and bringing in younger, far less experienced people to replace him, it's impossible to know whether his age was a factor in their decision.

 

[Zigner]

The employer is outsourcing the position...

 

[ecmst12]

Younger and less experienced means they are probably making much less money. Not the best way to make a layoff decision, but far from uncommon. Theoretically, the idea is to save as much money as possible while eliminating as few people as possible, so the highest paid ones have the biggest targets.