Do not overlook that the whole issue of "workplace violence" is such a hot button in the HR crowd that reports of an employee with a firearm are accompanied by the hue and cry that they must "do something".C-dub wrote:While this is correct or mostly correct, it is not the way most companies of moderate or lager size do things. They are often so worried about wrongful termination lawsuits and the EEOC that they spend an enormous amount of time documenting behavior and performance in order to terminate someone. Also often including the escalation of warning from oral, to written, to final warning before actual termination. Of course, there are always exceptions, but that also often depends on the infraction. I've seen it take up to a year or two to get rid of someone that was abusing the time clock and calling in sick at obvious times to give themselves 3-day weekends. And I've also seen someone gone within two hours.Shadow41 wrote:100% correct.winters wrote:I don't really care about getting it changed. Because of texas being at will they are going to say whatever they want if they want me fired.
If you're the #1 salesman for your company, they can simply say your sales weren't high enough for you market area and fire you. If you were 5 minutes late 2 months ago and it was the only time in ten years, they can fire you. If upper management doesn't like your opinion on something, they can fire you. Companies normally prefer that an employee gets 1 verbal warning, 1 written warning, and then is terminated for a 3rd offence, but that's usually for fighting unemployment claims. It's not however an absolute. They can make up what ever reason they want to for the official termination records as long as they can show a record of it, regardless of whether it's the real reason or not. I've seen it first hand at the company I've worked for for the last 25 yrs, and I'm in operations management.
As far as unemployment claims and wrongful termination lawsuits, I have personally sat through the meetings discussing employees where the litigation risks involved in terminating the employees were weighed against the litigation risks involved in keeping them. Sometimes an employer decides it simply isn't worth the risk to keep them even if there is a wrongful termination lawsuit.