At the company I worked for, >3000 employees, everyone was an “at will” employee, and I had authority within my department to summarily discharge anyone for insubordinate behavior, without prior HR approval. I never needed to fire anyone there, I simply made someone’s life miserable until he quit.
My company is less the 500 people and we are all at will employees. But if the company has any type of “Company Guidelines” (which every corporate lawyer I know says is a must), then there’s probably a section on dismissal of employee.
The other part is if you company has any type of contracts with the State or Federal government, then they put requirements on your company. Mostly to do with hiring practices.
I’m not saying companies don’t do it…but trust me it’s a lot harder then it seems. If one person made one outburst the whole time they worked there and the manager just fired him for that…There’s a good chance the company could/will be sued and loose. I’ve seen it…and been involved in it (not directly). Companies will try to avoid a lawsuit like this. They want everything documented (a lot of documentation) before they fire someone.
How long ago was that? It hasn’t been like that for at least 20 years where I have worked. All at will employment. As a manager you must involve HR. They conduct interviews and work with the manager to determine the best course of action. There are reasons for immediate termination but the manager cannot do that in isolation. Secondly, corporations are very much in tune with avoiding claims of hostile work environment arising from the type of retaliation you mention.
Meanwhile, back at the lemon ranch, I wanted to make the point that the best way to protect yourself from being manipulated by corporate vagueness is to do your homework, document everything, keep careful records of every conversation and every event, and put it all together into a claim under your state’s laws. Be clear what you want to happen, and why. Asking what a company plans to do about your problem simply opens the door to them answering you, and it’s unlikely you will like the answer. Don’t ask, tell them. And tell them how long you will wait for a reply, before taking the next steps you have planned. No need for anger or loud talk or swearing. Just quiet clarity and firmness. You bought a car and they gave you an unfinished kit.
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Had a few “Discussions” with bosses over the years, my right ear a little loss of hearing as the flip phone did not turn off speaker phone automatically, and ouch. He was hollering so loud, and I am hollering you are blaming the wrong explative person, retired 12 years later. Went to close my self off in the server room, but everyone in the office heard his and my rant. We are buds to this day, stuff happens, big people get over it.
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That’s how I achieved resolution of the torque converter issue on my then new car a few years back.
Your company must have been an entrepreneurship. A professionally managed company would have had policies in place to determine when an employee could be terminated. In case you take offense at my terminology, professional management means that anyone in the organization can leave and it will not sink the company. HR, management, engineering, business, and other policies are clearly defined so that issues can be dealt with without have certain key people in the loop. In an entrepreneurial business, the leader and maybe a very few others make all the decisions, and the standards they use are not written down for others to execute when the need arises.
Former chef etc. Rule number one no one is indispensable, Had to let one of the greatest programmers genius figure it out guy I ever had go, due to absence record and showing up while intoxicated. I imagine the same happens in auto repair shops.
And if so I would have sued the dumb ah.
Hopefully that company is still in business despite its management problems
Yup
I’ve seen some REALLY smart mechanics shoot themselves in the foot, due to tardiness, unannounced absences and intoxication on the job
What good is it if you’re literally the smartest guy in the shop, can diagnose and fix anything . . . but the boss can’t depend on you actually being there?!
I’d rather have an average but dependable mechanic who’s always there, versus a genius who can’t be bothered to show up on time . . . or at all
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