C&F question interpretation Forum

[Anonymous User]

question asks if you've ever been fired, discharged, disciplined, laid off.

would retail seasonal work, school internships, etc, be included? these are jobs which you are I guess laid off or discharged from after an agreed upon time. i interpret that question to mean performance/conduct related issues. i plan to just put an addendum and list seasonal employers and say if more info is needed please let me know but i dont think its responsive to the question.

[Anonymous User]

If you went into the job knowing it was seasonal/for a limited term, and you worked the term that was agreed to at the beginning and then the job ends, that’s not being fired, discharged, disciplined, or laid off. That’s just the term coming to an end.

So if you did an internship for fall semester 2021 and it was always identified as a semester-long gig and you stopped working at the internship because the semester ended, you weren’t fired etc.

If you got hired to work retail from October 1 -January 15 and you worked October 1 -January15, similarly you weren’t fired etc.

If you got hired to work “seasonal” retail and you didn’t have a specified end date and on Jan 15 your manager said, “hey, season’s over, we don’t have any more hours for you so you don’t need to come back next week,” technically you could describe that as getting laid off (but not any of the other things), but you probably wouldn’t need to as it was understood on both sides that the job would end post-season, even if a specific date wasn’t originally given. (Also, it’s the nature of the beast and no one will care.)

Conversely, if you worked retail for 3 years somewhere and then your boss said, “we don’t have enough work so we can’t give you any more hours, don’t come back next week,” that would be getting laid off.

Basically, the “fired etc” language is asking whether you were ever required to leave a job not of your own volition. Laid off is generally understood to mean you got terminated through no fault of your own but your employer didn’t need your position any more. Fired is usually for cause (poor performance - like you never showed up on time - or some kind of malfeasance - like you stole from the company). Discharged is I think just another way to say fired.

Disciplined can be a little ambiguous but generally it refers to some kind of formal process, like a letter in your file or being docked pay or being put on a performance plan. Your boss saying, “hey, you keep coming in late on Monday mornings and you need to stop, we’re always super busy then and it’s causing problems” isn’t discipline you need to report. Your boss putting a letter in your file to record the fact that you’ve been told that you need to stop coming in late on Monday mornings is discipline. Think the kind of thing that lays a foundation for firing you down the line if you don’t improve.

[Anonymous User]

What if you were terminated, but never actually given a reason why?

I worked retail for a while in undergrad, and at some point they started giving me fewer and fewer shifts. Eventually, when it had been like 2 months without a shift, my boss called me and essentially said that i would no longer be employed there, but didn't give me a reason why. I forgot the exact wording, but they didn't say fired or laid off. It was a very neutral termination and I wasn't really sure what the reasoning was.

I'm pretty sure that it was because I told them I wouldn't be available to work around Thanksgiving or Christmas (very busy times in retail). My boss was pretty annoyed when I told him, and they started decreasing my shifts after the new year. Although they never told me that was why or anything and it's just my own conjecture.

I always just put "yes" for being fired, and then just write a description saying what happened and that I was never given a reason. But also highlighting that it wasn't because of any disciplinary or performance issues. I figure it's better safe than sorry...

[Anonymous User]

What if you were terminated, but never actually given a reason why?

I worked retail for a while in undergrad, and at some point they started giving me fewer and fewer shifts. Eventually, when it had been like 2 months without a shift, my boss called me and essentially said that i would no longer be employed there, but didn't give me a reason why. I forgot the exact wording, but they didn't say fired or laid off. It was a very neutral termination and I wasn't really sure what the reasoning was.

I'm pretty sure that it was because I told them I wouldn't be available to work around Thanksgiving or Christmas (very busy times in retail). My boss was pretty annoyed when I told him, and they started decreasing my shifts after the new year. Although they never told me that was why or anything and it's just my own conjecture.

I always just put "yes" for being fired, and then just write a description saying what happened and that I was never given a reason. But also highlighting that it wasn't because of any disciplinary or performance issues. I figure it's better safe than sorry...

Yeah, I think that's probably the safest route - put "yes" for being fired, explain how it happened and that you weren't given a reason for it. I suppose an employer could say you were fired for a kind of performance issue, in that you weren't sufficiently available to work, but since you don't have proof that's even why it happened, no need to argue against that.

Anyway it won't make the slightest bit of difference, this is a super common scenario and doesn't reflect badly on you at all.