No matter how good you are at your job, there’s no guarantee that your boss will value your loyalty or effort. People keep realizing this horrible fact just by witnessing mass layoffs and sudden firings. No matter how much you work, sometimes the reward for being the best is nothing.

Unfortunately, a man learned this lesson the hard way when he lost his job of 7 years in a matter of minutes. He shared the agonizing process of learning about his contract termination and how there was no good reason for it to happen.

More info: Reddit

Loyal and well-liked employee is suddenly given the boot, manager has the audacity to say “let this be a lesson”

Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)

The man shared that all of a sudden, his coworker ran up to him at work to tell him he was going to get fired on the spot and that he shouldn’t sign anything

Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)

Within 10 minutes, the employee’s worst fears were confirmed, and he was called into his manager’s office

Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)

His manager said they didn’t see improvement, which is why they were terminating his contract

Image credits: Ketut Subiyanto (not the actual photo)

The guy refused to sign the termination agreement, and he was shocked that 7 years of loyal service was going down the drain

Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)

The poster had only received 2 write-ups in all his years and was left in shock about the decision, he eventually decided to approach a union to figure out his next steps

Image credits: Flat-Pen4873

He even shared that his fellow employees were heartbroken about his contract termination and tried to stand up for him to their boss

Around 48% of Americans experience layoff anxiety, and can you blame them? Research shows that nearly 40% of people have been laid off at least once. It is terrifying to imagine losing your job, and even more heartbreaking when it actually happens. That’s why Bored Panda reached out to the post’s author, u/Flat-Pen4873, to get his perspective on the situation and to see if there had been any update.

We asked him if he had noticed his boss behaving differently in the week leading up to the firing. He mentioned: “My manager’s reaction weeks prior to the termination were what I would call normal for him. Nothing stood out of the ordinary and I greeted him kindly every time I saw him, so no I didn’t [see] it coming. At the meeting the manager was cold and unyielding [about] the decision, when I asked if we could talk about it he said no, it’s final.”

Even when companies plan to fire employees on the spot, they need to follow a fair process. Human resource professionals state that the worker should be given all the facts and then provided with a chance to respond or explain why they shouldn’t be dismissed. Employers should also have a record of notes and communication between them and their employees to ensure transparency. None of these procedures were followed during the poster’s termination.

Apart from the shocked worker, his coworkers were also dumbfounded by the news. The poster told us, “after I had been escorted out of the building (like I stole something or assaulted someone) the manager called my coworkers together to notify them of my termination. Minutes before the termination my good friend and coworker John came to me with distress in his eyes and his heart that was pounding like crazy.”

“He told me that he just received an email that they are going to end my contract on that day, I had no prior knowledge of this before John told me. He also told me to not sign any papers they give me and that if I need help that I could always call him (he had been appointed to work for my union two weeks before all this happened),” the author shared.

Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)

A union must protect employees from cases of wrongful termination. The few situations in which they can’t take up a case with the employer include: 

• If there’s a good cause or legitimate reason for the firing
• If the worker has broken implied rules, such as getting three warnings and disregarding each one
• As long as they aren’t violating any federal or state laws

We asked the author if the union he contacted had informed him of what to do next. He told us: “So yes, I’ve contacted my union (ACV) here in Belgium, and they also found the reason to terminate my contract [wrongful]. As of today I am waiting for the documents that the company needs to send me. Since I didn’t sign anything at the meeting they are legally required to send me the papers so I can personally take them to my union. Only after that I can take further action.”

He also added, “my feeling after this news was of course shock. After 7 years at the same company doing whatever I could to make my supervisor and manager happy about my work, only to then receive this news is pure shock and distraught.” Of course, going through this in the first place is terrifying, and it’s no wonder that the poster did not know what to do.

His heartless manager did not even have the courtesy to give him a good explanation for the firing and wanted to use it to teach other employees a “lesson.” But, this kind of behavior only makes workers lose faith in the organization and wonder why they are putting in any effort in the first place. How would you have handled this horrible situation? Have you ever been laid off from a company, what did you do about it?

Netizens shared their stories of being fired unfairly, and many asked the poster about his company’s union and what measures he could take

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