If I used poor judgment, could I lose my job?
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If I used poor judgment, could I lose my job?
I am a manager at my company and the regional HR team regularly sends out a list to
all of the managers in the region. It shows the names and locations of employees scheduled
to receive written disciplinary action. I am in a relationship with an employee at another store,
and in a moment of poor judgement, shared the name of 1 of his co-workers, mentioning that he was due to receive a write-up. This week, my SO was written up, and while he was having the meeting at which the-write up was delivered, he mentioned that he was nervous other people would be able to see his. When asked why he would think that, he stated that a manager from another store had mentioned that they had seen information on his store in the past. His manager left that conversation, and went to Regional HR, who then contacted me. While I certainly showed poor judgement sharing the name of an employee who was going to be disciplined, is my poor judgement a dischargeable offense?
Asked on May 20, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Massachusetts
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Most employment is what is known as "at will". This means that an employee can be discharged for any reason or no reason at all, with or without notice. So yes, you can be terminated. That is unless your discharege would constitute some form of legally actionable discrimination (which it does not appear to), or you are afforded protection from dismissal by the terms of an employment contract, union agreement or even company policy.
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