Is this ethical?.

patman99 · 30 November 2017 at 9:54PM

A co-worker has been told their services are no longer required.

The company owner then gathered the rest of the department together and informed them that the person had been let go and went into detail as to why.

Is this ethical?.

74jax · 30 November 2017 at 10:10PM

How else would you know? Wouldn't you wonder where they were?

hyubh · 30 November 2017 at 10:13PM

patman99 wrote: »

A co-worker has been told their services are no longer required.

The company owner then gathered the rest of the department together and informed them that the person had been let go and went into detail as to why.

Is this ethical?.

Crikey, that's a brave question to ask on this board! What sort of replies might one foresee...?

- Not in a recognised union? Deserved all they got.
- What's legal is what matters.
- None of your business.
- I'm affronted by your thought that it is your business.

Edit: ah, with apologies to 74jax! 'How else would you know? Wouldn't you wonder where they were?' is clearly canonical too.

sangie595 · 30 November 2017 at 10:19PM

Ethical means relating to beliefs about right and wrong. So, since different people believe different things, the answer is "yes", "no" or "maybe".

patman99 · 30 November 2017 at 10:24PM

People come and go all the time in the workplace. It's a factory.

The point is, was any Law Brocken when the owner gathered the rest of the team together and told them the exact reasons as to why the person had been fired.

There is surely a breach of confidentiality after all. There have been several dismissals recently and this is the only one this has happened with.

steampowered · 30 November 2017 at 10:29PM

I would see it as unprofessional.

I'm not sure it would be unethical though. So long as the reasons given were true and factual.

TELLIT01 · 30 November 2017 at 11:15PM

At once place I worked a senior manager disappeared from the company overnight. Everybody wondered what the hell had happened so the MD explained that there had been a difference of opinion regarding the quality of the job the departed manager had been doing. It was left to staff to interpret that as they might.
Should there have been any conversation on the subject? Probably not but, by giving a vague explanation, it ceased to be a topic of much interest.
In response to the OP, I don't think a detailed explanation should have been given unless it was directly relevant to the way other people are working. If the explanation was intended as a subtle warning to other it may be justified.

sangie595 · 30 November 2017 at 11:18PM

patman99 wrote: »

People come and go all the time in the workplace. It's a factory.

The point is, was any Law Brocken when the owner gathered the rest of the team together and told them the exact reasons as to why the person had been fired. No.

There is surely a breach of confidentiality after all. There have been several dismissals recently and this is the only one this has happened with.Which law?

You asked about ethics. Ethics have very little to do with law.

k3lvc · 30 November 2017 at 11:30PM

patman99 wrote: »

There is surely a breach of confidentiality after all. There have been several dismissals recently and this is the only one this has happened with.

So what had the person done ? Was the message given a warning to others re the consequences of said action ?

Irrespective as long as it was factually correct then it's not illegal and, as for ethical, that's always subjective

xapprenticex · 30 November 2017 at 11:32PM

i see no problem.

Energize · 1 December 2017 at 1:07AM

Employers should definitely inform staff when an employee has left the business, otherwise you end up emailing people who no longer work there!

As to explaining why they left, it totally depends on the situation, if all the staff are talking about it, it could be reasonable to explain to stop rumors and speculation flying around.

Is this ethical?.

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