This morning an email went out saying, “Judy Doe has joined The Firm today and will be supporting This Lawyer, That Lawyer and The Other Lawyer. Please make sure you take the time to stop by her desk to welcome her to the Firm family.”
Uh. What happened to the OTHER secretary who sat in that spot for a few years?
Turns out, she was fired on Friday.
I have to be honest and say it wasn’t completely out of the blue. The secretary had an inkling about a month ago that something was up. A little slip of the tongue from another co-worker. It put the secretary into a tizzy, followed up by not one but two family members’ deaths that kept her out of the office for almost a week not knowing if she’d have a job to come back to. I’m sure it must have been hard on the secretary on Friday, and I feel bad that I wasn’t here to comfort her, since I already knew about the co-worker’s gaffe and how that made the secretary feel.
And how does it make me feel? Like I need to work overdrive and make sure all my T’s are crossed and such. I know Mr. BIL is satisfied with my work, but you never know what will happen down the road, and it looks as though this company doesn’t put you on probation like the company that fired me back in my party days. I was given a 3-month probation and when I didn’t improve I was sacked. It wasn’t unexpected. But here, she wasn’t REALLY quite sure what was up, and so I’m sure that even though she MAY have thought something was going on, I’m sure Friday was like an anvil falling from the sky.
Cripeys – They should make a visit to my firm and see what we deal with *lol* and YOU know just what I am talking about. Isn’t that against the law though to just up and fire someone? I had thought you were supposed to get written warnings and verbal warnings etc., before the actual pink slip. Is it differnet for each company?
(Then again, who is going to bring a law firm to court?)
From the little bit I’ve heard today, she apparently was told at her last review that her attorneys were not too happy recently, but the Firm doesn’t have a specific “probation” policy. Needless to say the attorneys are being treated VERY KINDLY today. *lol*
I don’t know about NC, but Georgia is an “At Will Employment” State. Meaning, you can be fired for any or no reason, with no notice. (As long as it’s not violating a civil right).