Fired for not disclosing personal details on requesting time off.

[shadowfox476]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? KS

I found myself in a situation today where I am currently seeking new employment, but did not wish let my current employer know. I had an interview setup for tomorrow and so I told my boss that I had a personal situation that has come up and I needed time off. Once I requested he initially denied it, then approved it. Then about an hour later he requested to know why I was requesting off the next day. I stated that it was a personal situation which I did not want to disclose the details of. Then he said that it was okay if I did not tell him but if I didn't then I would pack up my things and leave.

So now I no longer have a job because I did not wish to disclose personal details about why I was requesting tomorrow off. Furthermore I played an important role in the company and I feel like they may contact me later to request additional information such as how to access my previous work, security credentials that I was responsible for but no longer have in my possession, and possibly describe or explain some of the tasks I was responsible for that no one else knew how to do.

My question mainly is do I have the right to refuse to help them at all since I no longer work there or am I liable in any way to help them pick up the mess they just created ( couldn't think of a better way to say it).

I'm sorry if some of this is unclear, but I found this forum and hoping something fruitful or at least to be pointed in the correct direction to find the answers I need. I never would've expected to be terminated from work just because I was asking for an afternoon off for personal reasons, and that I didn't want to disclose those reasons. I felt it was in the best interest of me and my family to keep that detail confidential until I found employment elsewhere.

Please let me know if I need to clarify anything or if you have any other questions.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

 

[adjusterjack]

My question mainly is do I have the right to refuse to help them at all since I no longer work there or am I liable in any way to help them pick up the mess they just created ( couldn't think of a better way to say it).

As long as you don't have some sort of contract compelling your cooperation you are certainly within your rights to refuse to assist.

And your former employer is well within his rights to give his negative opinion of you to any prospective employer that calls to verify your employment there.

Your choice.

By the way, if you haven't filed for unemployment, do so ASAP.

 

[commentator]

Thumbs up, double likes. You do not have to tell them anything or have any further contact with them, since it was by your employer's choice that your relationship with the company has been severed. File for unemployment benefits immediately. They'll be contacted by the agency, and your side of what happened will be explored, and they will determine if your employer had a valid misconduct reason to terminate you. Hint, it will likely be determined that he did not.

DO NOT let the employer talk you into claiming you resigned to 'save your references" or something like that. When an employer fires you, not only do they lose your services and your information and your help with whatever you were doing (let them find out whether or not what you were doing was important!) they cannot stop you from receiving unemployment insurance, which ultimately costs them money, unless they can show that they had a valid truly misconduct reason to terminate you.

If you said, "S---- you, I don't have to tell you jack about where I'm going or what I'll be doing!" and gave him the finger and stomped out, that might be insubordination, actual misconduct, but as long as you conducted yourself in a professional manner, it'd be hard to show that your saying you'd rather not disclose what you were doing was rank insubordination worthy of firing. And while it was legal for him to do this, in an "at will" state, unemployment insurance is your recourse until you find another job. It is not based on your income or needs, but is insurance against your employer doing just what he did, which was throw you out on a whim of his.

 

[shadowfox476]

Thank you both for your kind words and advice. I'm still trying to process everything that is happening and this has been very helpful. Thanks again to the both of you and anyone else that feels compelled to comment on this thread.

 

[cbg]

I just want to offer one caution. I agree that you have no legal obligation to offer any assistance to your employer at this point, and he can do nothing if you refuse.

EXCEPT use it in a reference if/when he is called for one.

 

[commentator]

That is one of the situations you would have to handle very discretely in an interview situation, IF there were any question about the reference from this business. (And of course the OP would try to avoid this.)

"Small business, employer with ego issues, when I made the decision to move on, was arbitrarily discharged for refusal to provide him with information about why I was taking leave." Or something tactful to touch on the subject that there may not be a good reference from this person. And then no dwelling on the subject at all.

But if this person was a professional, he should've learned, as SO many employers/business owners have not, that you can spout off, you're the big cheese, yeah, you're outta here! This is MY company! Hit the road!
But that's not always the wise thing to do, especially if the person you want to dump so decisively and immediately has valuable information and is providing valuable services to the operation of your business. And even if the person went back and helped out, provided the company with everything they asked for, want to bet they wouldn't STILL give him a lousy reference, probably accuse him of stealing something as he left or mucking up the whole system.

Which is another thing. They've fired you, dumped you out on your head. In this situation, many people get walked out of the business immediately just so that they can't get revenge by playing heck with computer networks, shutting down the whole operation. If this boss has any sense, he'll hire someone off the street to figure out what has been going on before he'll ask this person for help, just because even though this particular OP wouldn't do it to them, there are certainly folks out there who don't take kindly to being fired this way.