3 ms·

Ignoring the ageism here, can we discuss why this would not be an open-closed case and cost thousands of dollars just to lose?

greenyoda 13y ago
That had me puzzled too. If the CEO would have documented every interaction with the employee in writing (e.g., "on 3/17/85 I gave him job #1, explained what I wanted done, and he failed to do this, and said..."), he would have had a pretty solid case for having fired him for incompetence. It's what any competent HR person or employment lawyer would have advised him to do, especially since the employee was a member of a protected class. What really surprised me is that the same guy could have later been hired at Apple. This whole story is a bit scary, since I'm over 40 (the age at which U.S. age discrimination laws kick in) and I wouldn't want bad experiences like this to deter an employer from hiring me.
- danielweber 13y ago
  It was too much work to write all that stuff up. But Dave could have just given him severance instead. "Here's a week's pay, go away." It seemed that Roy was there for several weeks, so one more week to make Roy go away forever is money well spent.
joshvm 13y ago
It is extraordinarily difficult to fire people, at least in some countries. This is perhaps for good cause, it stops managers being able to boot people out of the door like you see in movies. It's very easy to 'discriminate' against someone without realising. You need to make sure that the terms of employment are very well defined in the contract. If terms are hazy then they may well turn back and say that they were doing nothing wrong. If you don't record absolutely everything that happens, the employee could turn around and say this is the first time they heard of the problem. In some jurisdictions you need a second opinion that would be considered impartial before letting someone go; don't have that? Instant discrimination case. Didn't have a disciplinary meeting so they could have their say? Unfair dismissal. You have to jump through all the hoops to keep things above board.

greenyoda 13y ago

That had me puzzled too. If the CEO would have documented every interaction with the employee in writing (e.g., "on 3/17/85 I gave him job #1, explained what I wanted done, and he failed to do this, and said..."), he would have had a pretty solid case for having fired him for incompetence. It's what any competent HR person or employment lawyer would have advised him to do, especially since the employee was a member of a protected class. What really surprised me is that the same guy could have later been hired at Apple. This whole story is a bit scary, since I'm over 40 (the age at which U.S. age discrimination laws kick in) and I wouldn't want bad experiences like this to deter an employer from hiring me.

danielweber 13y ago
It was too much work to write all that stuff up. But Dave could have just given him severance instead. "Here's a week's pay, go away." It seemed that Roy was there for several weeks, so one more week to make Roy go away forever is money well spent.

joshvm 13y ago

It is extraordinarily difficult to fire people, at least in some countries. This is perhaps for good cause, it stops managers being able to boot people out of the door like you see in movies. It's very easy to 'discriminate' against someone without realising. You need to make sure that the terms of employment are very well defined in the contract. If terms are hazy then they may well turn back and say that they were doing nothing wrong. If you don't record absolutely everything that happens, the employee could turn around and say this is the first time they heard of the problem. In some jurisdictions you need a second opinion that would be considered impartial before letting someone go; don't have that? Instant discrimination case. Didn't have a disciplinary meeting so they could have their say? Unfair dismissal. You have to jump through all the hoops to keep things above board.