By HR nightmare - 02/12/2016 05:20 - United States - Glendale

Today, I tried to fire the worst worker I've ever had over the phone because he never shows up for work anymore. He said no and went crazy. HR and the police are now involved. FML
I agree, your life sucks 11 162
You deserved it 740

Same thing different taste

Top comments

ber4fun 23

As far as I know one cannot decline being fired. Mail him his last paycheck and you probably don't have to worry about seeing him again because, if he hasn't been showing up for work he definitely won't now.

Imagine what he'd be like if a girl tried to break up with him... yikes!

Comments

Think we need a little more info to determine this one... For example, did you give enough warnings etc before firing? There's generally a protocol to be followed in dismissal, just need to know if you followed it or not :)

Usually, the protocol is that if you don't show up for a certain number of days, you're automatically fired. OP probably was doing the employee a favor by calling.

It's usually 3 days of no-show. It's considered job abandonment, and it was awfully nice of the employer to even bother calling.

mariri9206 32

Also, most states in the US are at will employment states so any employee can actually be fired at any time for no reason unless it was for a discriminatory reason and you can prove that.

You fired him over the phone. Why involve the police, unless he threatened to bomb the place?

tons of things could've happened to get the police involved

@ #2 OP said he went crazy, which could be anything from verbal threats on the phone, to going there in person.

Or maybe OP didn't call the poliece, the worker could have during his temper tantrum.

One of my coworkers got fired over the phone and he promptly told my boss to watch his back. (They were on speaker phone and I could hear them through the wall since my desk was next to my boss' office). My boss then told him if he ever sets foot on company property again the police will be called.

ber4fun 23

As far as I know one cannot decline being fired. Mail him his last paycheck and you probably don't have to worry about seeing him again because, if he hasn't been showing up for work he definitely won't now.

Most states have laws saying that you can quit at any time and that you can be fired at any time. some states however require business to give a 2 week notice before termination. I'm not sure what the law in ops state is

No state that I'm aware of REQUIRES notice for termination if you're fired for *cause* (e.g. job abandonment). Notice sometimes has to be given of no-cause terminations (like layoffs), especially ones impacting several employees. JA firings are usually the easiest because the employee is presumed to know they need to work.

VagueEel, I live and work in AZ as an accountant and part of my job is payroll. There is no requirement for warning of a firing. You don't have to give the employee warnings verbal or written before firing if they are violating company policy. My company has in its handbook that 2 days of no call no show is an automatic firing as do most others I know of.

I apologize, I misread the article I was reading. Some businesses have clauses in their employment contracts stating that an employee cannot be fired without notice or reason. it's not a state based thing but a contract between the employee and business. sorry about that! but thank you for correcting me, it lead me to do some much more intense research between the relationships of a business and an employee (really, why wasn't this stuff taught in school?)

moocowmilk0 19

Why would he care if he dosent show up anyways?

Imagine what he'd be like if a girl tried to break up with him... yikes!

-hey i think we should break up... **stomps feet like child and makes darth vader noooooooooooooooo!!!*** At least thats how i picture it....

That's actually kind of a scary thought

This is actually a common issue in AZ. Certain classifications of jobs have so much need to so few workers that the workers will just jump from job to job with no concern for the company, customers, or rules

Could he be on FMLA ? And you perhaps uninformed ?

Someone with firing power would know if a direct report was on FMLA.

writergirl1029 17

I hope your building has security.

Isn't it illegal to fire someone over the phone?

No. Most jurisdictions allow default firings for non-attendance. You just terminate and mail the last check, along with separation paperwork.

How else would you fire someone that doesn't show up?

I don't know why I'm getting down voted for a simple question. I always thought you had to talk to them in person.

And people answered. Its not like everyone snapped and you got no answer