I’m furious.
I got home last night to find my sister was having to fill out a form from the Unemployment office to explain why her rendition of events differs from her (now former) employer.
Seems HE said she had been Fired!
For the record – my sister was called into her supervisor’s office a Friday just a few weeks ago, and told – out of the blue – that she was being replaced. They’d hired another person after having joined with a new partner, and while she had wanted to hire an additional person to do the added work, the boss had decided to simply save money by replacing my sister with someone else.
She looked at her supervisor and asked “Was it something I did wrong?”
“No,” she was told “In fact, I like you a lot and love your work. You do a great job, and I’m really upset about this, but it’s out of my control.” She followed with “we don’t have severance here, so can you please stay for another two weeks?”
That’s what my sister put down on her application for unemployment. That she had been “laid off/replaced.” because that’s what she was told. She wasn’t “Fired”, they assured her.
So today in the mail (well it was Saturday’s mail that she’d walked out to get Monday) there’s a letter from Unemployment saying her account and her boss’s account differ, and she’s required to explain why before any benefits can be paid out.
She was in the middle of filling out the form, answering “No” to all the questions of: Were you ever reprimanded? “No” to: Were you ever written up? “No” to: Was it ever explained to you what you were doing wrong? When I walked in carrying Monday’s mail, with a letter from Unemployment.
After she explained to me what she had and what she was doing, I had her open the letter I was carrying – seems that was a copy of what her exboss had filled out – and I got even angrier.
He checked the boxes: Fired and Other – then explained, and I quote “Cynthia was unable to perform higher level tasks outside her normal duties and had to be replaced.” then in another line wrote “We needed someone to perform higher levels outside her duties and could not afford to hire another person, so Cynthia had to be replaced with someone who could do her job as well as these higher level functions.”
Each time, he has checked the box: Fired.
Well FUCK me till Sunday – but there’s a whopping huge difference between Fired and Laid Off ! I’m furious because this asshole has made my sister so upset. She’s devastated to be given the label “Fired” and it’s understandable. She asked her supervisor, Point Blank, if it was due to her work or her personally – and she was assured, to her face, that it was not.
Hell, they even gave her a Goodbye card, and two $25.00 gift cards. They signed things like “Best of luck.” and “We’ll miss you very much”
How many people do that after firing someone?
It might be semantics, sure, but it’s important semantics. It’s a personal affront, regardless of distinction. This asshole had to say she was Fired in order to NOT take a hit on his Employment Insurance Premiums as a boss – well Eff that!
She’s filled out the questions for Unemployment, explaining her side and what she was told. I’m going to fax it from work so it gets there quicker than snail mail, and when I do, I’m going to add a little note further explaining her side of the story. We don’t want the Unemployment Department thinking she was trying to pull one over by telling a lie – regardless of what her boss said, she was told she was being Laid Off.
Big difference.
Really big difference.
He’s made my sister emotionally upset, she’s depressed and feeling like a loser right now, and that’s bullshit.
May his dingus shrivel to a useless husk.
The Velvet Zebra 