Forced to resign: What are your options?

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(MoneyWatch) Dear Evil HR Lady,
My employer asked me to resign. I had no early warnings nor complaints about my work performance. They won't tell me the reason. Should I sign the termination letter on the spot? Can I ask them if I can review it first? What questions should I ask?

The first rule of signatures is you never, ever - not in a million years - sign something you don't understand. If someone shoves a resignation letter under your nose and tells you to sign it, do not sign until you not only understand it, but are willing to accept the consequences of signing it.

Now, what will happen if you refuse to sign? They'll fire you, of course. And what happens if you do sign? You'll be out of a job. So, you see, they don't have a lot to hold over your head in order to get you to sign.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios. If you resign you don't have to explain why you were fired in future interviews. If you are fired you are most likely eligible for unemployment. But before you make your decision, here are some questions to ask:

Can I just clean out my desk and leave?
Why I quit my job without a new one lined up

1. How much severance will you give me in exchange for my resignation? Yeah, I know, it seems like you don't have a lot of negotiating power here. But the truth is, for some reason only known to them, they want you to resign. They don't want to fire you. There is a good chance some severance can be forthcoming. How much? That's entirely dependent upon the industry, company size, your length of service, and why they want you to resign.

2. If I resign, will you oppose unemployment? Unemployment is a state decision, but when a person applies for it, the company is given the opportunity to object. What a company would do in this situation is produce your letter of resignation and say, "Look! He resigned!" (Other objections are that you were fired for cause. Then they'll produce evidence of stealing, extreme bad behavior, violence, etc.) If a company files no objection, more often then not the state approves.

3. Why do you want me to resign? If they haven't already told you, they probably won't now, either. But, you should ask. Do they want to replace you with someone else? Eliminate your position? Are you a mediocre performer? Do you have a history of workplace complaints that make you a high risk for suing should you be fired?

4. What will you say when you are called for a reference? This question needs to be asked of both HR and your direct manager. HR will probably just confirm dates and perhaps salary and reason for leaving. Your manager is generally not as good at sticking to the script. Now is the time to talk about this. You cannot just agree not to give out your boss's name as a reference because good reference checkers will find out anyway.

5. I will take this and have it reviewed by my attorney before signing. Note that this is not a question. This is a statement and if they object that's a pretty good sign that this is not in your best interest.

6. I need this in writing. Whatever they agree to needs to be in written form, signed by you and the company in order to be legally enforceable. While verbal promises are sometimes enforceable, proving that there was actual agreement is much more difficult and expensive.

7. What will be my official "reason for termination" be in your HR system as well as my paper file? This matters for both references and unemployment.

Whatever you do, don't feel like you have no options or no negotiating power. There's always room for negotiations when a termination is taking place. Generally, in this type of situation, their biggest goal is to get you to go away quietly. In order to do that, they may be willing to give you a few things. Don't pass up this opportunity.

Have a workplace dilemma? Send your questions to [e-mail].

[Vicki_B]

This happend to me 7 years ago. I was called to a meeting, told I was being let go, no reason, please leave now by the back door. I got two weeks pay "in lieu of notice".

I found out later that two other people were let go in the same fashion that day, three more the following week, then 11 more, then something over 20. We never did get a good answer for why (we had a LOT of speculation.)

The company tried to get me to sign a paper to say I "voluntarily quit" (I did not sign it). I talked to a lawyer, got the paperwork changed to say it was involuntary, and got the company to agree they would not oppose unemployment benefits.

It's nasty.

[sjs1967]

Excellent article! One thing I can add...in California, an unemployment representative with the state told me that often it is best for them to fire you. You can get unemployment if you haven't done anything awful as stated in the article. Plus, he added, if someone is honest and they are asked in an interview why did they leave, the person will have to say I was asked to resign. Sure, you can get creative and talk around it, but the fact is they asked you to go. It is suggested you make them fire you, leaving on good terms, and then you can explain in the next interview what you learned from the experience.

[Vicki_B]

I agree with the "fire you" comment because of unemployment. HOwever, I don;t see much difference between trying to talk around "I was asked to resign" and trying to talk around "I was fired". The next question is still going to be "Why? WHat did you do wrong?"

[MegaProcrastination]

It was many, many years ago but I was also terminated from a job similarly. I wasn't asked to resign, though, just told I had so much time to clean out my desk. This was a place I'd worked at for some time and I loved my job and was excellent at it. When they told me to leave I was in shock. I'm not sure why but for some reason I held it together long enough to ask about things like unemployment. I don't know how it is anywhere else, but here the only way you could collect unemployment benefits was if you were laid off, as in your employment was terminated through no fault of your own. In the end I got two weeks' severance pay and they agreed not to fight my unemployment claim. I know what I was told for the reason I was being sacked but I'm sure there was something else going on I was never told.

[get_down]

This happened to me many years ago too. Later found a job elsewhere in the same Company without the former manager's help at all. After 29 years in all, I'm recently retired and I'm currently living on my pension and my Social Security benefit along with my better-half. My 2-cents worth - "Don't feel bad. Get even later."

[hsinco-2009]

You probably deserved it!

[get_down]

In my case, we were told that our division didn't receive enough funding - so our Third-line manager informed us that he had to make a "painful" decision which was to find a cheaper Contract agency who alleged that they were able to supply enough work-force to replace all our internal employees who were affected. But what about knowledge, expertise...etc? "No problem, don't worry" as we were told that all the contractors had equal if not better expertise than the bunch were let go. So back then I swallowed my pride and found a job elsewhere in the same Company without the former manager's help at all. A couple of weeks afterwards, while I was finally settled in my new job role, I received the frantic phone-call from the contractor who took over my former job responsibility and he asked for my help - I politely refused and hung up the phone. Oh, that Third-line manager - he left the Company and worked for the same Contract agency as a VP - I'm sure nothing hanky-panky happened!

[credibility2]

...this happened to me many years ago...it was either get fired or resign...resigned...asked for a job elsewhere in corporation...claimed none existed...I ended up getting a labor attorney to go after this company since they initially weren't going to give me anything...got some things, but never was able to get back into my area of expertise...always felt I was being blackballed but hadn't any way of proving it...stuff happens...you move on...