firing

How to fire someone, being let go, preparing to lose your job — all your questions about workplace firings are answered here.

can I ask why my coworker was fired?

A reader writes: I have always thought of my job as a place where people didn’t get fired unless they were obviously and consistently bad at their jobs. I have been here for six years and I know that when we get the “goodbye so-and-so” emails from HR about people unexpectedly leaving, that probably means […]

Read the full article →

I got fired for attending a conference that I wasn’t invited to

I’m off today, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2017. A reader writes: I started working at my job eight months ago, not long after I completed college (thanks in part to your write-ups about cover letters, resumes, interview questions and job searching). A few months ago in […]

Read the full article →

I’m supposed to fire my husband’s ex-wife

A reader writes: I have recently accepted a job I am excited about. I have been working a long time to get to this level of position. I am taking a week off before starting my new position. While I was interviewing for the new position, they mentioned that one of my potential direct reports, […]

Read the full article →

how to get severance pay when you’re fired or laid off

If you’re fired or laid off, can you expect or negotiate severance pay? What about if you’re resigning? You probably know that severance pay is an option in some situations, but you might not know when gets it, when, why, or how to take full advantage of your options. At New York Magazine today, I’ve […]

Read the full article →

I’m about to fire an employee … but we just hired her husband

A reader writes: One of my staff is about to be fired for grossly inadequate performance. I’m confident that we’re on safe legal ground with the firing, and her performance issues have been documented and addressed with no improvement. However, the complication is that we have just hired her husband to work within the same […]

Read the full article →

I was fired for what I think are trivial reasons

A reader writes: A while ago I lost a position after just a few weeks of working there. I got really good feedback on my interview, and even got great feedback during the first days for going above and beyond what was expected of new teammembers. After a while my grandboss asked me how I […]

Read the full article →

why won’t my company fire my notoriously terrible manager?

A reader writes: I was part of a mass exodus from my former employer, and most of us left because we didn’t want to continue working with our director, “Ken.” I can spare you the details, but Ken is completely awful. I saw wonderful coworkers who were otherwise completely pleasant and professional be reduced to […]

Read the full article →