Manager fires top performer over contract dispute to intimidate the rest of the team: 'Keep in line, produce, and don't cause trouble'

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  via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

  A manager instructs his team in a conference room.

  _{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• "So management just terminated a high-performer, my coworker, yesterday.

  The coworker did a lot of work and was on good relations with pretty much everyone else, but they had a dispute over the contract. My coworker said they could hire a mediator to resolve the dispute. However, he was terminated and given no notice, minimum amount of severance.

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  via Vitaly Gariev

  An employee leaves the office with a cardboard box of personal items.

  _{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• Right after the termination, my coworker came to get his belongings and said he was fired, took one of our senior worker's email as a reference. Then he left. None of us knew about this, and it was shockingly sudden.

  I spoke with them after, and the company said they gave no official reason, but he was fairly certain it had to do with the dispute over the contract. However, because there was no official reason, he at least can get on unemployment.

• 
  via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

  A manager addresses his team with his back to the camera in a conference room.

  _{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• We were all a bit shocked after our coworker suddenly left, and everyone was looking pretty uncomfortable. The manager then said, 'If you guys have any concerns, let me know, you won’t get in trouble.'

  Like....how does the manager not realize that no one's going to trust him after?"

  - thekickeroffish

• 
  via Unsplash+ (Yunus Tuğ)

  A manager looks over a team member's shoulder with folded arms as she explains something in a team meeting.

  _{Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}

• Do we think this guy was trying to get more information on the recently fired coworker, or do we think this was his strange way of trying to assure his team that their jobs were stable? The cynic in me wants to assume the former, but on the other hand, some managers are simply terrible communicators. It's possible that this guy genuinely was trying to smooth things over after the contract dispute.

  Several members of this online community had their own hot takes regarding the various possible intentions behind the manager's strange meeting. Here are some highlights…

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