Termination with no reason given by HR representative of the company

Yesterday right after lunch, the rgional manager of my company along with a HR representative entered my office and shut the door. The HR rep proceeded to say, we decided to go in a different direction concerning concerning the M&R duties you perform to today will be your last day. I queried both on the reason for my firing,(Did have a bad performance apprasial, did I violate any company policies, was there anything the could present my in writing) they both again simply stated we are going in a diferent direction, advise me of the company seperations policy, Cobra, unemployment, etc. and wanted me to sign the seperation aggreement. I stated I would take it with me and review it and respond in time. I have been there a little more than 18 months (This was a new start up venture branched off from the main core business. They offered me no severance, just a prorated portion of a bonus I was due contractually, with my company insurance expiring at the end of the month

1 answer  |  asked Nov 12, 2010 1:35 PM [EST]  |  applies to Illinois

Answers (1)

John Otto
Did you have an employment contract? If so, they have to honor the terms of your agreement. If, as most employees, you did not have a contract and you were not a member of a union, they could fire you at any time for any reason or no reason at all. The law does not require them to give you severance pay, however, they must pay you any accrued but unused vacation. What do you think is the real reason they fired you? If the real reason is that the company is simply going in a different direction, you have no recourse. If you have evidence that the reason for your termination was one of the prohibited reasons under the Illinois Human Rights Act (race, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual preference, veteran) or some other unlawful reason such as retaliation for filing a workers compensation claim or for cooperating with a law enforcement investigation, then you do have some rights and should see a lawyer.

posted by John Otto  |  Nov 12, 2010 5:17 PM [EST]

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