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Cardiff Woman Fired by Text Message

clayj

clayj

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jan 14, 2005
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14231093/

A woman who worked at a body-piercing shop in Cardiff, Wales was fired by text message sent to her cell phone... the message she received (after taking a sick day) was "We've reviewed your sales figures and they're not really up to the level we need. As a result, we will not require your services any more. Thank you for your time with us."

Ouch. Is that even legal?
 
clayj said:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14231093/

A woman who worked at a body-piercing shop in Cardiff, Wales was fired by text message sent to her cell phone... the message she received (after taking a sick day) was "We've reviewed your sales figures and they're not really up to the level we need. As a result, we will not require your services any more. Thank you for your time with us."

Ouch. Is that even legal?
Click to expand...
Are there laws that tell employers how they have to handle firings?

Sales jobs are notoriously tenuous anyway...

Besides, is it worse than Phil Collins asking his wife for a divorce via fax? :p
 
Heh, I saw this. Apparently though, the shop tried to contact her 6 or 7 times and even gave a message via her boyfriend before resorting to this, so I suspect the one sick day was one of many. Having had to supervise total slackers in the past, I can see where they're coming from.

Having said that, a sacking by a text message isn't fair, and if nothing else, leaves them open to this kind of news item or even a lawsuit. If they couldn't get hold of her, a letter would only have taken a day longer than a text, and would have been far more polite and proper. If she was a skiver, a letter explaining how they had tried to get in contact X number of times because she'd been absent X number of times and hence had to sack her would have been far better for her, and far better for the company to back themselves up.
 
Ehh thats bad form. They should have sent a message saying "Call in ASAP" or similar. It is true that text messaging is often the most direct way to get in touch with a person (I.E you can read and respond to texts while in a meeting or on the train or in the toilet, somewhere where you can't/don't want to talk on the phone), but in this situation, use it as a pager, not the information delivery system. I feel bad for her...

Although it does open up the door to a whole new level of prank texts :D
 
Lau said:
Heh, I saw this. Apparently though, the shop tried to contact her 6 or 7 times and even gave a message via her boyfriend before resorting to this, so I suspect the one sick day was one of many. Having had to supervise total slackers in the past, I can see where they're coming from.

Having said that, a sacking by a text message isn't fair, and if nothing else, leaves them open to this kind of news item or even a lawsuit. If they couldn't get hold of her, a letter would only have taken a day longer than a text, and would have been far more polite and proper. If she was a skiver, a letter explaining how they had tried to get in contact X number of times because she'd been absent X number of times and hence had to sack her would have been far better for her, and far better for the company to back themselves up.
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I would think the logical thing to do would be to just wait until she came back into work, and THEN fired her in person. A letter would also have worked.

But a text message is just so... well, it's far too informal. I mean, at least they didn't write "u r fired. k? thx bye", but still...

mactastic said:
Besides, is it worse than Phil Collins asking his wife for a divorce via fax? :p
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No, it's not quite THAT tasteless... ;)
 
clayj said:
I would think the logical thing to do would be to just wait until she came back into work, and THEN fired her in person. A letter would also have worked.

But a text message is just so... well, it's far too informal. I mean, at least they didn't write "u r fired. k? thx bye", but still...
Click to expand...

Yes, true, but I got the impression from the fact they'd been trying to get in touch that it was beyond that point. I've worked with people where you know they pretty much have left, and they aren't coming back, but you have to go through the proper channels. If you can't get them in to tell them they're fired, you have to tell them another way. Me, I'd take the slower way and send them an official letter, but (and this is where they screwed up) they decided to text them. It's just not official enough. I'm not sure I'd even fire someone by email, I think you want the official qualities of a letter. The only thing I could think of in this situation was that she didn't have an address on file they could send a letter to, but I don't know why they wouldn't have mentioned it in the article I read.
 
Apple Hobo said:
omgwtf j00 f1rd!!1


I've heard that e-mail is becoming popular in canning people. I guess it's easier than telling them face to face. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

At least with email, you can write it like a bad news message and let the person being let-go down easily. This is kind of hard to do in a 160 character limit text message.
 
Apple Hobo said:
I've heard that e-mail is becoming popular in canning people.
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Yeah, until IT shuts off their e-mail access because they're fired, and then the fired party can't actually read that they're fired, and complain to IT that their e-mail doesn't work, only to be told by the help desk that they no longer have a record of them as an employee.

It's all very Office Space 2006.
 
clayj said:
But a text message is just so... well, it's far too informal. I mean, at least they didn't write "u r fired. k? thx bye", but still...
Click to expand...

There was a report in the Metro (freebie paper) one day last week about someone who was fired from a clothes shop job with almost identical wording to that. She was particularly bitter since she wasn't allowed to text in 'sick' and was annoyed that they could text 'out' fired. Will see if I can find a link somewhere
 
What bothers me the most is the thought that she had to pay for that text - they should have, at the least, offered to pay for that text. I mean, I don't know how it is in the UK, but here, I get screwed everytime someone sends me a text message...
 
nbs2 said:
What bothers me the most is the thought that she had to pay for that text - they should have, at the least, offered to pay for that text. I mean, I don't know how it is in the UK, but here, I get screwed everytime someone sends me a text message...
Click to expand...

:eek: Highly unlikely over here - we just pay to send them and you tend to get 100s bundled with your payment plan
 
Yeah, that would be mad. What happens if someone texts you and you didn't want them to? Do you still get charged? That would piss me right off. :(
 
emw said:
Yeah, until IT shuts off their e-mail access because they're fired, and then the fired party can't actually read that they're fired, and complain to IT that their e-mail doesn't work, only to be told by the help desk that they no longer have a record of them as an employee.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you've had a lot of experience with this situation. :p But honestly, that sounds so much like what happened to me (but w/ a uni, not work, and I wasn't fired or forced to leave).
 
devilot said:
Sounds like you've had a lot of experience with this situation. :p
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No, but I'm familiar with my IT group. ;)

devilot said:
But honestly, that sounds so much like what happened to me (but w/ a uni, not work, and I wasn't fired or forced to leave).
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So what part was like what happened to you, again? :confused: :p
 
The way I see it is this:

If a company does not feel comfortable hiring someone via text message (or other particular medium), they should not take liberty of firing someone through that same method.

I do see a bit of humor in it, but at the same time, I see it as a cop out and unprofessional; a bit childish.

I am also assuming this place would not interview/hire by text message. This may or may not be true, but I'm willing to bet they wouldn't.
 
Lau said:
Yeah, that would be mad. What happens if someone texts you and you didn't want them to? Do you still get charged? That would piss me right off. :(
Click to expand...
Still get charged. I really would prefer it if people would just call me and leave a message. I have 750 minutes to spare this month, but i still get charged $.10 for every message I recieve (not a lot, but it adds up)....
 
when i get fired i don't really care how they do it (as long as i get my two weeks notice/severance pay).

What's the point in discussing the issue with the guy who fires you anyway?
Of course i'm courious why I get canned. Most likely I know it anyway. But that is just personal couriosity and i'd get a better picture from off line communication later than from a phony "i'm so sorry but we had no choice" talk. And if I get fired my boss most likely goes down with me anyway....
 
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