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Hello everyone. First of all, thank you all for the help in advance. I wanted to reach out , because I have always found this message board to be very helpful and people knowledgeable.
So here is the situation. My father is 55. He had been the sole maintenance person at a small nursing home for the past 9 years. As a result, he was making a very good middle-class salary. About 1.5 months ago, they hired another guy that he trained. Then one Thursday, at the end of the work day, they called him in his boss' office and told him "things are not working out" and that they were letting him go. I obviously wasn't there, but according to him, they gave him no explanation and said "we don't have to explain ourselves" They also refused to let him see his personnel file. Then last Monday, they hired another guy, so they basically now have two people doing his job. They are both young and Probably combined make less than he did.
Now here is the strange part - he got no severance. He was literally let go one day, after 9 years, with no explanation, according to him. When he filed for unemployment, the bureau told him there were no marks on his record or anything like that, so it seems like it wasn't due to misconduct.
Anyway, my questions are two - 1) Is there anything he can do to access his employee file and find out why they fired him? he had never had any issues and last year, his boss gave him a discretionary $150 bonus for coming in for an emergency and always being available. So he is quite shocked by everything that happened.
2) I thought people usually get severance if they are let go for no cause. Is that the case? Is there anything he can do to seek out some severance for the 9 years he had been there?
He is quite nervous, as he is a maintenance worker and has never not had a job. He has been pretty responsible and has very good savings and I am well-off, so if he needs it I will obviously help him. But, I think he is terrified of the idea of not working and being home all day and he is worried no one will hire him at 55 for manual work, even though he is quite fit (bikes 35 miles 3x a week).
Thank you again
Last edited by HappyinCali; 08-11-2014 at 10:37 PM..
Right to access (or not access) personnel files depends on the laws of your state. Access to the file may not tell you why he was fired. Expect to see a memo that says "Mr. X was terminated because things were not working out to our satisfaction." They are not going to say that your dad was fired so they could hire a cheaper replacement.
Lack of severance pay is not strange at all. Severance pay is not required anywhere unless there is a contract that lists severance pay, severance pay is a listed benefit in an employee handbook, or the employer chooses to pay severance pay to others in the same classification and like circumstances. My guess is that he is not legally entitled to anything, and there is not anything you can do about it (other than to check the above circumstances).
Unless your father is in Montana, you're father can be let go without any reason (or for any reason which is not protected... race, sex, age, etc.). Most states are at-will states. The benefit of an at-will state is that neither the employee, or employer have to give a reason to terminate employment.
If your father is due severance in accordance to his employment agreement, then you should he should go after the company. Have him mail HR a copy of the signed agreement and see where that goes.
I honestly think some employers should tell the employee "Hey we can't pay you at that level anymore, so we're going to fire you. Unless you're willing to take a pay cut then we will keep you on until we can afford to pay you more".
I bet most people would rather accept a pay cut at their current job than accept a termination from the company, just so the company can hire someone cheaper.
I honestly think some employers should tell the employee "Hey we can't pay you at that level anymore, so we're going to fire you. Unless you're willing to take a pay cut then we will keep you on until we can afford to pay you more".
I bet most people would rather accept a pay cut at their current job than accept a termination from the company, just so the company can hire someone cheaper.
I don't think most employers would want to take that risk. If employees were loyal anymore, then perhaps. But having someone with 30 years of experience work for entry level wages is high risk.
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Most likely the employer is attempting to save money and at the same time get more work done, by having two people, both younger. It makes sense from a purely financial view, and despite being a chickens**t move it's perfectly legal without a contract or proof of age discrimination. There is no legal requirement for severance, unless included in a signed contract, and most small employers will not give one. Whether he can gain access to his employee records really doesn't matter. The true reason for letting him go is not going to be there unless the employer is really stupid.
This is an obvious age discrimination issue, now proving it in court is another matter. You mentioned it was a small nursing home, is it independent operation or part of a larger corporation? If it's part of a larger corporation, a good lawyer could file a lawsuit that would ask for a copy of all emails his boss received. There's a chance that upper management wrote an email ordering his boss to fire him for a cheaper replacement. As always filing a lawsuit has some degree of risk involved, maybe your father should talk to a lawyer about this.
This is an obvious age discrimination issue, now proving it in court is another matter. You mentioned it was a small nursing home, is it independent operation or part of a larger corporation? If it's part of a larger corporation, a good lawyer could file a lawsuit that would ask for a copy of all emails his boss received. There's a chance that upper management wrote an email ordering his boss to fire him for a cheaper replacement. As always filing a lawsuit has some degree of risk involved, maybe your father should talk to a lawyer about this.
I am not sure about this. I will ask him about it tonight. I think it is a small operation.
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