Fired but still getting assignments?? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I was fired a few days ago. They gave me a month severance but said I still may need to come into the office. I’ve been coming into the office; one of the partners that fired me gave me an assignment.

Like really???? You just fired me and now you’re giving me work to do to earn my severance???

Should I play nice and do the assignment? Ugh...

[Anonymous User]

I've been in a similar position before (hard to say more without more detail on your situation). But absolutely come in and do your assignments, provided they aren't too burdensome, and provided that you can keep them a clear #2 on the priority list after finding a new job. If you end up in a position where you need another month or two on the website, you'll be glad you didn't preemptively burn all your bridges.

If the amount of work you're getting is non-trivial and affecting your ability to find a new job, I'd quietly raise that with a partner.

[Guchster]

I agree with the above advice. In case your next opportunity checks with your former employer or you need a reference, it's probably most strategic to not burn bridges--plus I've heard of people who've had their severance and website time cut off completely when they stopped showing up or refused to do any work. I think you should be focused on your job search, but to the extent you can fit in the assignment, I think you should work on it.

I wouldn't come in early or stay late, but utilize a portion of your work day for it and raise it with that partner to the extent it's interfering with your job search.

It's certainly ballsy to give you another assignment after you've been laid off. I would never do something like that, but I would expect the work to be non-substantive (or if substantive, I could devote significant time reviewing to make sure the associate didn't screw me over as a last FU).

Are they giving you a couple of months of website time? If not, ask for it now. I recommend starting with 3-4 months.

[Anonymous User]

Seen this happen before. I would highly recommend doing an excellent job on those assignments in case you need to ask for another month of work / severance, website time, your next job wants to call someone from the firm, etc.

[jbagelboy]

What size is the firm?

If it’s a relatively small or mid-sized firm, and your termination was not the result of some sort of contentious dispute (e.g., retaliation or harassment), I agree with the above advice: do a good job on these assignments, provided they are reasonable, and keep going while you are on the website and receiving pay.

If biglaw, tell them to shove it and stop showing up. No large firm should ever fire an associate and then ask them to work. Someone else can do it (obviously), you owe them nothing, and the relationship with a partner who fired you and then kept asking you to work is not worth preserving absent special circumstances.

[cheaptilts]

What size is the firm?

If it’s a relatively small or mid-sized firm, and your termination was not the result of some sort of contentious dispute (e.g., retaliation or harassment), I agree with the above advice: do a good job on these assignments, provided they are reasonable, and keep going while you are on the website and receiving pay.

If biglaw, tell them to shove it and stop showing up. No large firm should ever fire an associate and then ask them to work. Someone else can do it (obviously), you owe them nothing, and the relationship with a partner who fired you and then kept asking you to work is not worth preserving absent special circumstances.

How do you reach this conclusion, given that (a) OP was given severance pay (for an at-will job, and presumably without any non-disparagement agreement) and (b) when severance was provided, OP was told that they would still need to come in on occasion?

I’m interested in hearing about how you think the result of OP telling them to “shove it” because he owns a them “nothing” will play out in reality.

In biglaw, assuming severance pay was in exchange for NDA, then of course the terms of the agreement controls. But I’d be shocked if the agreement was contingent upon the employee continuing to work as prescribed by the employer for the remaining whatever weeks, absent (the admittedly routine) indications from the employer that it’s ok to stop showing up/working

ETA: cheaptilts

My point, of course, assumes that your severance pay will come AFTER the pay period in which you’re working right now. If they are asking you to work during the month that your severance pay is supposed to cover, then yeah, that’s FUCKED. But if you don’t have an NDA or some other contract with the employer, it’s better to work 30 hours for a month’s Pay than it is to tell the employer to screw themselves and lose the severance altogether. Jbagel’s suggestion is out of line no matter the circumstance

[jbagelboy]

What size is the firm?

If it’s a relatively small or mid-sized firm, and your termination was not the result of some sort of contentious dispute (e.g., retaliation or harassment), I agree with the above advice: do a good job on these assignments, provided they are reasonable, and keep going while you are on the website and receiving pay.

If biglaw, tell them to shove it and stop showing up. No large firm should ever fire an associate and then ask them to work. Someone else can do it (obviously), you owe them nothing, and the relationship with a partner who fired you and then kept asking you to work is not worth preserving absent special circumstances.

How do you reach this conclusion, given that (a) OP was given severance pay (for an at-will job, and presumably without any non-disparagement agreement) and (b) when severance was provided, OP was told that they would still need to come in on occasion?

I’m interested in hearing about how you think the result of OP telling them to “shove it” because he owns a them “nothing” will play out in reality.

In biglaw, assuming severance pay was in exchange for NDA, then of course the terms of the agreement controls. But I’d be shocked if the agreement was contingent upon the employee continuing to work as prescribed by the employer for the remaining whatever weeks, absent (the admittedly routine) indications from the employer that it’s ok to stop showing up/working

ETA: cheaptilts

My point, of course, assumes that your severance pay will come AFTER the pay period in which you’re working right now. If they are asking you to work during the month that your severance pay is supposed to cover, then yeah, that’s FUCKED. But if you don’t have an NDA or some other contract with the employer, it’s better to work 30 hours for a month’s Pay than it is to tell the employer to screw themselves and lose the severance altogether. Jbagel’s suggestion is out of line no matter the circumstance

the way I've seen these situations play out in biglaw is that you are told you are being fired, in three months, during which time you will continue to be paid (effectively severance) and you can remain on the website. Rarely IME are biglaw associates immediately fired, as in, the employment relationship with the firm formally ends on the date of notification.

During that interim period, the expectation is that you will take the time to look for a new job and off-board your current work. To be clear (and I see how I wasn't), if you have ongoing tasks, you should complete them; if you are asked to do something to help transition a client or case, you should do so, including for professional conduct reasons. I understand the OP's situation to be different: he or she has been terminated, is effectively receiving severance payments, and is being asked to perform new work during that severance/website period. Under those circumstances, I believe it is appropriate to tell the partner, politely, to shove it, as in: "Thank you for the opportunity, unfortunately I don't have the bandwidth right now to join this matter/take on this project". It would be unusual--and, frankly, a total dick move deserving every and any retort--for the partner to then demand work after having fired the associate.

just my opinion