When you get a new job offer, if you’ve been searching for a job for a while, you’re likely going to be very excited about it, but could that all be taken away from you before your first day on the job? Is it possible to be fired before you’ve worked at all?
It absolutely is. As long as an employer has a legal reason to fire you, in most cases, you can be fired. With at will employment, this means your job can be terminated after one week, one day, or even before you go in for that first day.
This happened to a young man who was offered a job when he got done with college. That had been his plan all along–to find employment right after graduating–and he was so thrilled that he wanted to tell his friends and family members. Rather than doing it all in person, though, he decided that the easiest way to do it was to write a blog post.
There were two problems with that. For one thing, he used the logo of the company that had offered to hire him. For another, he pulled quotes directly from the letter that they’d sent him and posted them on his blog.
His post then got attention from others in the industry, and news of it made its way back to the company. They saw the logo and the quotes, determined that the information had been intended to be kept private, and told him they were pulling the job offer. In essence, he’d been fired.
While fast firings are legal, if you believe you’ve been fired too quickly in an unlawful manner, be sure you know your rights in New Jersey.
Source: Business Insider, “This Is How You Get Fired Before Your First Day On The Job,” Vivian Giang, accessed March 23, 2016
