I couldn’t sleep last night

Forums: Life At Work, Employment, Termination, Age Discrimination
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I posted in another thread when my boss the CFO of our company suddenly passed away in his sleep last September. We didn’t replace him until January. I get along with the new guy but he’s had it out for one lady who works as an Administrative Assistant in our department. She’s always done her job but she is a little headstrong and those two have been bumping heads for months now.

She’s a single woman, 58 years old and has custody of her two grandchildren; one is 10 the other 13. So she has two children to support.

Yesterday he let her go. In this economy and area it’s not going to be easy for her to find a job on her own. Companies are not suppose to discriminate based on age but you know some still do.

I’m going to have to do some networking to try to help her find another job.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 10 • Views: 3,279 • Replies: 20

[+4] - Green Witch - 08/01/2012You can also offer to be her reference for this company. She apparently is not going to get one from the guy who fired her so I suggest you let her know that any possible employers are welcome to...

I hope you can do her some good, Boss. That's really crappy.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

It is crappy! She’s worked there for five years and she did her job. He never liked her from the beginning. In the afternoon when her grand kids would get home from school they always called her, he use to get on her case about that. All she wanted was to make sure they were home.

He would find any little excuse to get on her about something!

I know a lot of people in this town and I think I might be able to find her something, might take me a couple of weeks though.

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@jcboy,

I heard a long program about workplace bullying on the radio yesterday. There's almost nothing that can be done about creeps like him. I hope she finds something soon--she'll be better off in the long run.

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@jcboy,

You can also offer to be her reference for this company. She apparently is not going to get one from the guy who fired her so I suggest you let her know that any possible employers are welcome to contact you directly for a good reference. You worked with her for 5 years so you know her work and that would make it an honest recommendation.

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@Green Witch,

Morgan has only worked there since he moved to Florida two and a half years ago, she was there for five years, but he could still give her a good recommendation. He’s come home and told me how the new CFO would belittle this lady in front of the other employees.

I think he will be able to help her find something.

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@jcboy,

He sounds like a bully! Have update her resume and send it people you know, you can find her work. Cheers peanut!

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Is there some sort of government agency where she can file a complaint, like harassment and wrongful dismissal? Or a higher up she can complain to?

1 Reply

@Green Witch,

Oh I would do that in a minute!

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@Mame,

She was so angry she sent an email from home last night to the President of the company, HR and about 25 other employees, including me about how he has treated her. Now HR is calling in everyone on the email list for a one on one talk. I only worked half day today so I’ll probably be called in tomorrow.

I’m just going to be honest with what I’ve seen and heard. Suppose to be confidential anyway.

1 Reply

@jcboy,

It's doubtful that HR wasn't involved in the dismissal of the employee. If they're any good at their job they made sure that no age discrimination charges could be made before they let him fire her. Don't assume that HR is there to be even handed with the employees. Their primary roll is to support management and to make sure no laws are broken.

3 Replies

@JPB,

I dunno. We had an interesting circumstance a few years ago at a previous employer where a senior manager (and HR) accepted someone's resignation and announced it within hours.

A couple of us complained to our VP about how things were handled - he got involved - the employee came back and not too much later the senior manager had moved to another company (and six months later to still another company).

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@JPB,

Oh I know. I know the lady in HR very well. Those that were called in today are not talking about it to any other employee, not even sure why they would even bother with talking to us.

1 Reply

@jcboy,

jcboy wrote:

not even sure why they would even bother with talking to us.

who knows what else has been going on with the employee and/or the new CFO - they may just be verifying what they already know - or they may be discovering that they didn't know anything about the situation

1 Reply

@JPB,

Yes I agree - I can voice from my experience. Even knowing an HR person and having that person's respect - they basically need to stand by the company - they may not agree, but they will do what is legally in the best interst of the company.

Likely these conversations will do nothing to help this poor woman, but it is also likely these conversations could have a huge negative impact to this bozo. So I'd suggest on your side - to keep it professional, but honest like you plan on doing. Try not to make it appear as if you can't stand the idiot (even if you do) - just give the facts without personal opinion.

The facts alone are going leave a bad mark on this idiot's record.

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@ehBeth,

could also be HR is trying to calm the waters in a sense - seeing an email went out to so many people, they don't want her email to cause a stir or upset everyone.

Reminds me of a phone mail message some one left - supposedly some one got the phone mail password of some one else which obviously this particular guy did not like. He went on this guys phone using the password sent out a phone message to a random number of people at the company.

I will tell you it was about the funniest thing I've heard. Not long after that a company wide email blast went out warning about password and the need to keep them well hidden.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Quote:

could also be HR is trying to calm the waters in a sense

That would be my guess as well.

Quote:

I couldn't sleep last night

And guess what happens when he gets up at 3AM in the morning? I have to get up and the three dogs wake up. Wonderful!

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I’ll have my interview with them tomorrow. I still have no idea what they are going to be asking me but like I said I will answer them honestly. I have nothing to fear or hide.

I talked with her today and she’s working on updating her resume. I also talked with a few friends in town about positions where they work so I’m doing a little networking now, better to start early.

1 Reply

@jcboy,

My meeting was relatively quick. Basically all they wanted was to let everyone know letting her go was the right decision. They didn’t ask any questions about the new CFO or how we felt about him like I thought they might. So basically it was just damage control because of her email.

She emailed me her resume last night. I’m going to have a friend of mine re-write it. It’s two pages long! Nobody really wants to know what you did 25 years ago!

1 Reply

@jcboy,

Quote:

Nobody really wants to know what you did 25 years ago!

You were three years old 25 years ago! Very Happy

1 Reply

I couldn’t sleep last night

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