You are being terminated from your job this week and your boss would like you to sign papers; You prefer to not sign anything.
Do you have to sign
them?
Well, it's true that
the only thing they can really do to you for not signing is fire you, which
they are already doing. That said, what does signing the papers mean?
There are generally
three types of papers involved in a termination. The first is simply a
statement that you are being terminated and it may or may not say what the
reason for that termination is. The signature asked for is an acknowledgement
that you have received the information. It is not (generally) an acknowledgment
that you agree with their assessment of the reason for termination.
There is absolutely no
reason not to sign this type of paper. It merely says, "Yes, I received
and read these papers." Not signing them won't change anything about your
termination. (It's not like they'll say, "Oh dear, John won't sign these
papers, I guess he'll have to keep working!") If you don't sign, it's most
likely that your manager and another witness will write, "John Doe
received papers on 4/22/2012 and refused to sign." If your termination is
because of a layoff of some sort and they would have considered you for rehire,
and then you've just had your status changed to "Ineligible for
re-hire."
If it is something
that says you agree with their assessment and you don't, you don't have to
sign. (For instance, "I acknowledge that I came in late 7 times in the
past 30 days and therefore I am being terminated.") If they pressure you,
you can sign it with a note that says, "Signing as to receipt only."
The second type
generally details what your obligations are. This can be something like a
relocation agreement or tuition reimbursement. Again, your signature is just
acknowledging that you are aware of these obligations. Not signing doesn't make
them go away.
The third type of
termination papers is a bit more serious. These are generally legal agreements
that involve you promising to do X and the company promising to do Y. They can
be asking you to agree not to sue (generally such a document is known as a
"General Release"), not to compete for a certain time period, or to
not recruit your former coworkers. In exchange the company offers you
severance, waves repayment for education or relocation, or allows your 401(k)
to be fully vested even if you haven't worked the requisite number of years.
This type of document
is extremely important and you should run it by a lawyer before you sign (or
don't sign), unless you feel confident that you understand it. No matter what
the person who hands the document tells you, what is written prevails. So if
there is a non-compete clause in the document, but the HR person says, "Oh
don't worry, we never enforce that," they can enforce it if they want to.
In this case you have
to evaluate if you want what the company is offering more than what they want
you to give up. If it's a layoff and you feel like you weren't chosen for any
illegal reason (such as race, gender, pregnancy status, etc), then signing a
release saying, "I won't sue you!" is no big deal. Even if you think
you were terminated for an illegal reason, if the severance they are offering
is more than a token amount, it's probably more than you'll see in a lawsuit
and you should consider signing.
No matter what, make
sure you keep a copy of any document you sign.
Generally refusing to
sign documents because you're angry just burns a bridge. How you handle
yourself in a termination can have a huge impact on what your manager says when
someone calls him for a reference. And destroying any goodwill that you have
isn't worth your temporary temper tantrum.
What is your opinion?
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