HR managers do not just wake up and send employees home
I had worked for five years before I was fired on what HR termed “personal grounds”. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- If you have received a letter advising you of termination under "personal grounds", you should appeal.
- If there were any concerns on your performance lately, this could be a red flag you may have ignored.
- Nepotism is quite common in some organisations. You could appeal your termination on such grounds, however, the onus will be on you to prove your claim.
Q: I had worked for my former employer for five years before I was fired on what HR termed “personal grounds”. The HR manager who issued me the termination letter happens to be my cousin, and I believe that he was on a revenge mission when he fired me. How do I handle the issue?
I am not familiar with termination grounds referred to as “personal grounds”, and if you have received a letter advising you of termination under such, you should appeal. You need to check your policies and see what misconducts may be termed as personal grounds and confirm if they warrant a termination. That is the first action to take. The rest is speculation, so you ought to keep it to yourself and start thinking of valid reasons that may have a bearing to your termination.
Five years on a job means you were doing a good job, but something may have changed recently. If there were any concerns on your performance lately, this could be a red flag you may have ignored. I have come across situations where employees have ignored performance concerns, only to wake up when documentation process starts. Some up their game and get lucky while others are released and feel victimized.
In a good work environment, HR managers do not just wake up and send employees home, their job includes ensuring every employee is treated fairly at all times, hence discussions around terminations are managed with considerable input from line managers. You need to check your supervisors view on this and raise concerns through an appeal if you feel their view has been influenced to support an unfair termination.
Nepotism is quite common in some organisations. When employers remain silent on employment of close relatives, you are likely to end up with high levels of employees whose skills may not match their roles. Obviously, this creates a culture of favouritism, a high sense of entitlement and fault finding which eventually affects productivity.
You could appeal your termination on grounds that you are a victim of nepotism, however, the onus will be on you to prove your claim. Sometimes situations like these are hard to prove, so it is best for organisations to have a policy to guide everyone and curb negative energy generated around such appointments.
