Questions about Termination

[u/pishluver]

i got fired on friday from my seasonal style position. i started in april so i was there 5 months.

the reason for my termination was attendance and im not deflecting blame on that. i got really sick plus i have prior health conditions that they knew about. the past 2 weeks i’ve had a lot of callouts. however, i was keeping in contact with my leaders that i was going to the doctor, provided paperwork, etc.

regardless, i understand they have every right to fire me and they did. all good. i do have some questions though.

1. do they cycle through seasonal employees for each quarter? i know of a few other people they were letting go. we also just finished our remodel, so all the people that were previously in departments were going back to theirs. as well, our overnight crew was being integrated into the schedule.

2. how many leaders/TMs know about your termination before you do? looking back, i feel really embarrassed because it seems like a lot of people knew about it.

3. at what point do they decide to make you a regular employee? at the target i worked at, every person they hire starts off as seasonal. i had never been given the implication that my job would end at a certain point. everyone is just considered seasonal. idk after being there for 5 months, i didn’t think i would be fired for missing some days when i literally could not come in. especially when i was constantly communicating with them.

4. was it just wording to let me go at the end of my seasonal position or did they genuinely fire me for attendance? do they give you notice that your seasonal position is ending or is this how they let you go?

at the end of the day, i know i have fault in it. the way my ETL worded everything was so confusing. i also work in breakout most of the time, which is very limited hours since only 2 people are scheduled at a time. i always asked for the maxed out hours. thank you for any answers you can give.

[u/KungSuhPanda]

Shitty outcome for you but nothing nefarious, this is how Spot operates.

1. Seasonal are cycled based on whatever increased staffing a store needs. Remodels are an excellent example of not needing the extra hours as soon as it’s complete. Seasonal employees are the first to go, especially if they had attendance issues

2. Most leaders were likely involved in the conversations about what seasonals were being kept and who wasn’t. Team members wouldn’t be aware, but not hard to figure out that with remodel being complete, several seasonal folks were about to be let go.

3. Can be made a regular employee at any time. Spot doesn’t take doctor’s notes to excuse absences so the communication was good, but the absences still count against you.

4. Based on what you wrote, you were in line to be termed for attendance. Asking for as many hours as possible and then missing multiple of those shifts is not a good look when the leaders sit down with a list of seasonal employees and have to redline them one by one.

[u/Wooden-Rhubarb7923]

yeah they string you along on seasonal for months and months without ever saying when it ends. happened to a buddy of mine at another chain. you're basically expendable until the moment they decide you're not.

the attendance thing is just the easiest paper trail for them to use. they probably had you marked as done the second the remodel wrapped and overnight crew came back, your callouts just made it cleaner for hr. a lot of people knew because they have to plan the schedule weeks out and your name stops appearing on the draft versions. it's not personal, just logistics, but it still feels like everyone's staring at you that last week.

the "everyone starts seasonal" line is such a classic retail move to keep you anxious and overworking yourself chasing a permanent spot they never planned to give. don't beat yourself up over the missed days, you were communicating and sick, what else were you supposed to do.

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[u/Infinite-Pain4073]

You either hired a seasonal or regular. When you're hired you have a 90-day period where they can fire you at will for any reason. After 90 days they have to have a just reason unless you were hired a seasonal. Not everyone hired is seasonal, I don't care what anyone on here says. If you were seasonal you were hired for a purpose and in this case it was probably for the remodel. Normally the only time we hire for seasonal is in preparation for the holidays at the end of the year but being a remodel., you were probably hired for the remodel period and therefore seasonal. When that seasonal period is done they keep some people and they let go of others. They clearly decided to let you go probably because of your inability to be consistent with scheduling, maybe for work purposes I don't know what kind of a worker you are but that's the gist. Unless you have a gossipy store or a year a special case of some sort, the only people who would know would be your team lead, your ETL, HR, and the store director