Double standard for firing worker?

dereksbicycles

dereksbicycles

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One of my friends bought an interesting point on Facebook. We are required to give our employers a 2 week notice before quitting. Should they give workers a 2 week notice before firing someone?

If they're allowed to fire someone right on spot, then can we just quit on spot?
 
It is professional manner to give employers 2 weeks notice that you're planning to resign due to moving or other reasons. This gives the employer time to find replacement and saves them time and money.

If 2 week notice can't be done... have a polite word with your employers and if this goes well and he would let you resign on a good terms. Quitting on a bad term, or fired will not look good on the resume.
 
I think it ought to be at least a week, but I can see how firing someone on the spot might be the best course of action sometimes (but not always). Honestly, though, firing a person on the spot really just leaves the boss scrambling to fill their position, and sends a clear message: "Keeping you here is more trouble to me than filling your position and redoing the schedule".....

I think layoffs, though, need to have notice. If you get laid off it tends to be the company's fault. If you get fired, it tends to be yours.
 
Someone that knows they have been fired wouldn't do as good of a job if the company let them stay. Thats why companies give out severence pay instead. Unless you signed a contract you can quit on the spot but that is not very courteous so you will probably get a bad review if a new job calls that company when interviewing.
 
My husband just recently hired an associate engineer. There were numerous candidates but they were deciding between two people. One worked for the company but was laid off about six years ago. The other still worked for the company but in a different division. It came down to their references. The guy who had been laid off, left on really bad terms, angry and would not show his boss his work projects. He did not get the job because of this. Always do your best to leave your job on the best of terms. Things have a way of coming back and biting you in the butt. When I was hiring pharmacy technicians I always looked at why and how they left their last job. I didn't want to spend the time and money training someone who might just walk off with no notice.
 
Depends on the kind of job and package you get. There is no 2 weeks rule, just pure out of respect when being on good term.

If an employer said "At will employment" it means that either of employer or employee can quit at any time without any hard feelings.

If it is contract, then whatever the term on contract outline on how one would part from the company.

The only law that I know of is whenever there is mass lay off (At least 50% within 30 days), employer is required to inform of their intent to lay off. It might be state law, I am not too sure.

Almost all firing involves immediate termination from company. There is no waiting period for firing employee. Why would company be forced to wait 2 weeks before firing employee for stealing, harassment, etc?
 
severance pay have nothing to do with firing somebody, it only applies when company is going though rescruction (Not sure of spelling), and were forced to make decision whether to lay off, so they first offer whoever wants to take severance pay and run. When they are done with that phase, and if not enough people take it and run, then lay off will follow. Severance pay is much softer way to eliminate employees, and saves company money in the long run.

Konijnen said:
Someone that knows they have been fired wouldn't do as good of a job if the company let them stay. Thats why companies give out severence pay instead. Unless you signed a contract you can quit on the spot but that is not very courteous so you will probably get a bad review if a new job calls that company when interviewing.
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diehardbiker said:
If an employer said "At will employment" it means that either of employer or employee can quit at any time without any hard feelings.
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I wouldn't say that. Quitting without notice is a great way to destroy any goodwill you have with your boss. When I quit my last job I did so without giving notice, and pretty much accepted that, despite being a very good employee, I probably wasn't going to be able to get a good reference from my boss. Managers are ridiculously vindictive about stuff like that.
 
There u go again misunderstanding again. I once work for company and I had to sign the "employment at will" clause and was explained. I was told that company wants reserve the right to terminate me at any time, and be fair with me, so that I can quit at moment notice. So its pretty much 2 way street agreement. Not every company has that, many of them yes.


baronash said:
I wouldn't say that. Quitting without notice is a great way to destroy any goodwill you have with your boss. When I quit my last job I did so without giving notice, and pretty much accepted that, despite being a very good employee, I probably wasn't going to be able to get a good reference from my boss. Managers are ridiculously vindictive about stuff like that.
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diehardbiker said:
There u go again misunderstanding again. I once work for company and I had to sign the "employment at will" clause and was explained. I was told that company wants reserve the right to terminate me at any time, and be fair with me, so that I can quit at moment notice. So its pretty much 2 way street agreement. Not every company has that, many of them yes.
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I didn't misunderstand you at all, and the idea that I've done so before is laughable since that was my first post on this forum. "Employment at will" is a legal concept, and all of the jobs I have held have been at-will. There is a difference between being able to quit your job without notice without your boss being able to take legal action against you, and your boss personally having no issue with you quitting without notice. Even in an at-will employment situation, it is common courtesy to give two weeks notice before leaving. In most situations, leaving without giving notice is going to result in some ill will.

So, to the OP, if you want to use your employer as a reference in the future, you should give notice.
 
dereksbicycles said:
One of my friends bought an interesting point on Facebook. We are required to give our employers a 2 week notice before quitting. Should they give workers a 2 week notice before firing someone?

If they're allowed to fire someone right on spot, then can we just quit on spot?
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double standard? no. it's 2 completely different situations.

you want to quit... so you give them 2-weeks notice out of courtesy. a very amicable departure and you're able to move onto wherever you want plus a shining recommendation from your former boss if your new job requires a reference.

they want to fire you... so they fire you on the spot to prevent any further damage/liability because of your incompetence or behavior.
 
Yeah you were.

The difference is when one sign agreement with employer that the employment is "At-Will" meaning that employer can terminate without any explanation, in exchange that employee can quit without 2 weeks notice, and employer will not elaborate why employee left the company, and when it comes to reference, the at-will employer only can say that this ex-employee works from X date to Y date, nothing more. They can't say that this employee just walk out for no reason. Without this agreement, then 2 weeks notice is recommended but not mandatory.

Generally, it wont hurt much, because anyone can pick any reference they want, don't have to be from same employer that they worked for. The advantage of 2 weeks notice is that one with 2 weeks notice have better chance of getting rehire with same employer verses one that quit with no notice, then re-hire is slim to none.

baronash said:
I didn't misunderstand you at all, and the idea that I've done so before is laughable since that was my first post on this forum. "Employment at will" is a legal concept, and all of the jobs I have held have been at-will. There is a difference between being able to quit your job without notice without your boss being able to take legal action against you, and your boss personally having no issue with you quitting without notice. Even in an at-will employment situation, it is common courtesy to give two weeks notice before leaving. In most situations, leaving without giving notice is going to result in some ill will.

So, to the OP, if you want to use your employer as a reference in the future, you should give notice.
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