3 Unexpected Reasons Even The Best Employees Get Fired From Their Jobs, Says Employment Lawyer
Adrian Swancar | Unsplash We spend a huge portion of our waking hours at work; it's no wonder that so many people define their successes and failures according to their professional lives. Yet even people who work hard and maintain long-term gains at their jobs can still, unfortunately, get fired.
A study has shown how some companies use a process called churning, where they routinely fire productive employees and replace them with equally qualified new candidates. Corporations claim it helps maintain a dedicated pool of productive workers, while employees tend to feel it is a way to keep costs down and not provide fair compensation. Craig Levy, an employment law attorney, shared some of the excuses why even the best employees who have been successful at their jobs for an extended period of time might get fired.
Here are three unexpected reasons even the best employees get fired from their jobs, says employment lawyer:
1. The employee gets a new supervisor
When management positions shuffle around at a company, there’s likely to be an adjustment period for everyone involved. Levy points out that sometimes, supervisors don’t get along with the people they’re managing. He noted that a new supervisor might see the employee as a threat to their job, so they fire them.
Research has found that employees with leadership potential can cause supervisors to feel threatened due to their low sense of self-worth and lack of confidence. A talented employee could make a new manager feel jealous. This is especially true in highly competitive work cultures that encourage rivalry.
2. The ownership of the company changes hands
“Sometimes, a new company or regime gets involved,” Levy explained. “They reassess the company and determine that certain individuals are no longer needed.” Even if an employee is a high performer, it’s still possible that they’ll be laid off if they’re deemed redundant to the company.
Career coach Jeff Saperstein added, "People who develop the ability to adjust their plans when facing uncertainty do way better in their careers. Those who plan and take control of their decisions successfully navigate career transitions and achieve both the success they feel personally and the measurable kind, like salary and promotions. Decrease career anxiety by being prepared for anything. Don't expect your plan to accurately predict and prescribe the future, but rather to enable you to be prepared and ready for emergent possibilities."
3. The employee is seen as a burden to the company
Zoran Zeremski via Shutterstock
A high-performing employee could go from being valued to being discarded, especially if management interprets them as a threat to the company’s well-being and overall success. Levy explained that there are a variety of reasons why an employee might be seen as a burden. The employee might have acted as a whistle-blower on some illegal activity within the company, which threatens the company’s livelihood.
Another example of an employee becoming burdensome is if they’ve taken extended leave from work, whether due to medical reasons, parental leave after having a baby, or mental health struggles. “Even very high performers are expendable when they become a perceived burden to the company,” Levy stated.
There are protections in place to assist workers if they believe they've been fired for unlawful reasons.
Branigan Robertson, an employment attorney based in California, offered his YouTube followers a guide to wrongful terminations. He examined the differences between valid terminations and unlawful terminations, as they pertain to employment laws within California, specifically. He delineated the differences between terminations that are unfair and illegal, noting that just because your termination was unfair, it doesn’t necessarily mean it was unlawful.
Robertson also explained the meaning of being an at-will employee, stating that “the at-will doctrine says that employers can fire you for any reason under the sun, except for things that the courts and Congress have decided are unlawful.”
He then explained that contractual wrongful termination is “where the employee has an employment contract with the employer that says [they] cannot be fired except for good cause” or for reaching the end of a contract term.
While the nuances of employment law run deep, it’s important for employees who were fired to have a strong understanding of the law in order to protect themselves. As Levy highlighted, just because you got fired doesn’t mean you’re bad at your job. By emphasizing that even valuable employees get fired, it’s clear we shouldn’t define our worth through our work.
As one person advised in the comments section, “Never give your whole self to one company.” If you do get fired despite being a good employee, remember that our jobs do not define us. We all hold inherent value just by virtue of being ourselves.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers workplace culture, pop culture analysis, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.
