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Legal requirements of manager/company at firing

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r34498

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? AZ

When firing an employee, is a manager allowed to ask two of the employee's four coworkers (same job title, same duties) into the meeting, just because they are "senior" co-workers (been there the longest), even if they were not designated as having supervisory authority on the compnay's org chart? Does doing so violate an employee's right to privacy?

Is a manager required to have an HR representative present at the firing (or available immediately afterward) to answer questions about the legal ramifications of the choice offered to allow the employee to resign or be terminated (i.e. unemployment compensation, benefits, etc.)?

If an employee is normally paid by hand distributed check on each payday, can the employer require that the newly terminated employee to "come back later" (1 hr commute) to pick up their last check or are they supposed to have it ready at the firing?
 


pattytx

Senior Member
Anybody can be there the company, through the manager, wants there to be. Unless the manager is worried about possible violence, though, what's the point?

An HR representative is not required to be at the termination meeting; some companies don't even HAVE HR departments.

Re final paycheck, in Arizona, for involuntary terminations, the final pay is not due until three days following the termination or the next regularly scheduled payday, so your question is moot.
http://www.ica.state.az.us/Labor/Labor_WagClm_FAQs_Wage_Payment_Laws.aspx
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
Don't listen to anything the HR department tells you about unemployment benefits. File anyway as soon as you are terminated regardless of whether you choose to quit or be fired. You have every right to file, and they don't make the decision as to whether or not you will quality.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Nowhere did the OP say anybody in HR or anywhere else said s/he was not eligible for UI benefits. The OP asked if someone in HR had to be in the termination meeting; the answer has not changed. NO.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
The OP implied that he wanted to ask HR about unemployment insurance. I was responding specifically to that.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
Not everybody in HR is either as unethical or uninformed as swalsh411 thinks they are. swalsh411 is painting with WAY too broad of a brush.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
But SOME are, and you can't always tell which ones, so I stand by my advice to the OP.

Pattytx.... have you ever seen commentator advise somebody to trust their soon-to-be-former-employer on matters related to their unemployment eligibility?
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Swalsh, your comments in this thread are extremely insulting to the HR people who volunteer for HOURS on this site.

I'll accept your apology now, please.
 

r34498

Junior Member
wrongful termination compensation

Thanks for the opinions.

If a person is fired in retaliation for expressing concern after discovering (during the course of assigned research), a large discrepancy between actual client efficacy rates and advertised rates, and wishes to pursue a wrongful termination claim, what would be a typical compensatory (and punitive?) severance amount to seek?
 
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eerelations

Senior Member
Given that it isn't illegal to fire someone "for expressing concern after discoverying [sic] a large discrepancy between actual client efficacy rates and advertised rates" no wrongful termination has occurred. Ergo a lawsuit cannot happen, and ergo again, there isn't an amount that can be sought.
 

pattytx

Senior Member
This poster is being so vague, I don't even know what the question is any more.:confused::rolleyes:

What the heck did that last question mean? In English please.
 

r34498

Junior Member
Given that it isn't illegal to fire someone "for expressing concern after discoverying [sic] a large discrepancy between actual client efficacy rates and advertised rates" no wrongful termination has occurred. Ergo a lawsuit cannot happen, and ergo again, there isn't an amount that can be sought.

Sorry on the typo.

Didn't mean to be vague. The company sells alternative health services but is legally bound not to say, "diagnose, cure, treat or heal", but gets around it with terms like "fix" and boasts an incredibly high client improvement rate, which convinces many. However, they also collect surveys from clients which revealed a significantly lower (no better than chance) improvement rate. The services run in the thousands per client. Employee discovered this discrepancy and voiced concern. Excelling employee was fired less than a week later.

So, what constitutes retaliation?

In a meeting with the CEO, to review the employee's research, the CEO stated, "if we were audited tomorrow, this could mean the end of the company" and then asked "can we go back into the client surveys and correct their mistakes?" Two days later, the IT depart. was directed to review all emails of complaining employee and 3 days after that, the employee was terminated despite good reviews. Pure coincedence????

I understand that this forum is set up to discourage lawsuits, but it's interesting that much more ridiculous complaints and settlements make the news every day.

If everything stated is true, you really don't think that this employee has any redress?
 
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pattytx

Senior Member
No, the employee has no legal recourse. Your review could say you walked on water and you could stilll be legally terminated tomorrow.

Google "wrongful termination".
 

r34498

Junior Member
No, the employee has no legal recourse. Your review could say you walked on water and you could stilll [sic] be legally terminated tomorrow.

Google "wrongful termination".
Humm...well I did. I spoke with three lawyers who offered to take the case on contingency because they felt that the manager's actions were so wrong. The company is very keen to keep a discussion of their efficacy rate out of open court. I just wanted a wide range of opinions on an appropriate compensatory amount.

This forum is really interesting because I've seen cases that won in court, presented here and all opinions say there is no case....even in cases that won. shrug.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
And under what law did they say you had a case, may I ask?

I'm calling BS on this one. The facts as you have presented them do not come even close to providing a wrongful termination claim, let alone one that three attorneys would take on contingency. Either you presented them with completely different facts than you provided us, or you're a liar. One or the other.

I particularly like the way you managed to get three different appointments with three different lawyers, on the morning of the day where most places and all state and Federal offices, are closed for the holiday.
 

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