Reduction in Force
chehog
9 Posts
I can't believe we have this problem, first for the company in the 16+ years in business but we just lost a major defense contract and will need to cut some employees. We've lost contracts before but have never had to let employees go because of the loss. I was hoping some of you might have some advice.
We will be able to place most of the employees on another contract within the company. That's the good news. The bad news - the team taking most of the employees has 1 person that was hired in early 2012 that has been a less than stellar performer and the manager wants to replace him with a more experiened employee that has been with us for years that otherwise would be part of the layoff. We don't know how to handle the situation because management is afraid of a law suit (this employee has told everyone that his wife was let go from a government job and is suing for race discrimination and the concern is he may also look for a reason to sue). He's a minority and the tenured employee they want to replace him with is not, hence part of the fear based on his wife's situation. I don't know the circumstances of her employment and for all I know she may have a very legit case.
Can we just say we're letting you go and backfilling the position with an employee with more experience? He was disciplined for performance problems a few months ago but the manager doesn't want to make it a performance issue. He was the last one hired for the task he is working on so it would be last in first out. I just can't justify keeping an okay peformer that watches the clock all day and letting a great employee go.
We will be able to place most of the employees on another contract within the company. That's the good news. The bad news - the team taking most of the employees has 1 person that was hired in early 2012 that has been a less than stellar performer and the manager wants to replace him with a more experiened employee that has been with us for years that otherwise would be part of the layoff. We don't know how to handle the situation because management is afraid of a law suit (this employee has told everyone that his wife was let go from a government job and is suing for race discrimination and the concern is he may also look for a reason to sue). He's a minority and the tenured employee they want to replace him with is not, hence part of the fear based on his wife's situation. I don't know the circumstances of her employment and for all I know she may have a very legit case.
Can we just say we're letting you go and backfilling the position with an employee with more experience? He was disciplined for performance problems a few months ago but the manager doesn't want to make it a performance issue. He was the last one hired for the task he is working on so it would be last in first out. I just can't justify keeping an okay peformer that watches the clock all day and letting a great employee go.
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