There are clear signs that we see over and over again in many discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination cases that suggest that the employer is trying to set an employee for termination:
1. You Receive a Written Warning or You Are Placed on a PIP
A written warning or even more so a performance improvement plan (a PIP) is one of the more common signs that your days with that employer are counted. In many, if not most cases, ea 30 or 6o day PIP often means that the decision to terminate you has already been made, and the employer is just building up the paperwork to show that they gave you another chance. Many employees who are put on the PIP are fired before the supposedly provided time to improve their performance even expires.
2. Your Employer Hires a Much Younger Employee and Instructs you to To Train Him
This is one of the most common signs of age discrimination. The employer wants to replace you with a much younger and much lower paid employee, so they bring the new recruit and expect you to train him so that he know much of what you know about the job. Once they see that the new hire is ready to perform all or at least most of your duties, they implement a “lay-off”, telling you that you are terminated due to reduction in force or restructuring, when in fact it’s nothing other than the cover-up for discriminatory and wrongful termination.
3. Your Manager Starts Micromanaging You and Pointing Out Petty Mistakes in Your Work
When your manager looks much closer at your performance than usual and/or point out the smallest, most petty issues with your work that he never made an issue out of before, chances are that he is trying to drive you out. Many managers respond with this kind of retaliation after you complain about them to HR or higher management.
If face one or more of the above issues at work, you should discuss your legal options of either protecting your job or enhancing any future claims you might have against your employer with an experience employment attorney. Often, taking certain steps before you are fired or at least running your situation by an attorney can be very helpful to avoiding mistakes that will leave you without legal recourse if and when you are fired.