How far would you go to protect a fellow worker, wrongfully accused of something, resulting in their firing?

I would stick up for them in the sense that I wouldn’t mind telling HR “I know what happened and they are innocent.”

I wouldn’t go any further than that though b/c I’m not risking my own job. I’ve been applying, there aren’t many well paying jobs out there right now.

And I wouldn’t expect anything more of that friend.

It depends on who was involved in the firing. If someone higher up didn’t have the right information and had a good relationship with them then I would go and talk to them. But I’m doubtful as to whether that would work. Usually, when a firing has been decided on, it goes through.

You can provide support to the person being wrongfully fired, behind the scenes.

I protected someone from a witch hunt and got my ass fired.

Tell hr all you know and only what you know lest you get sucked into someone else’s fight where you don’t know all the facts. You don’t want to get manipulated into sticking up for someone who lied to you about their situation and end up getting fired yourself by supporting someone in the wrong.

I usually don’t like to answer hypotheticals, but I think I can safely say in this situation, I would let someone in management know the truth.

I would stand up for them. I’ll always stand up against misjustice in the workplace. I can always get another job.

I’m not so brave in other places, but that is the one place where I tell it like I see it. I figure that’s what they hired me for. And if that isn’t what they hired me for, then I don’t want to work for them.

@tranquilsea Same here. Only I stuck up for an entire department. I found myself out the door that day. But the next day all of the department I was sticking up for quit their jobs. The boss that fired me, got fired himself. Everybody lost on that one.

I would tell hr what I for sure knew were facts. As nurses we evaluated each other, were expected to advocate for patient safety and each other, so just the facts, ma’am.

Right is right. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

Under the limited info you describe I would go all the way to the top to try and right a wrong. I’ve done it twice in similar situations and never felt better about doing so.

Funny part was the semantics of the right and wrong were clear as a bell but it was the underlying circumstances that hovered outside the clear-cut right and wrong is what added up to the initial dismissal and ultimately it proved out that the higher ups were right with their initial move to boot the people involved. Moral to the story is there is usually more to the story and stay out of it!!

I have threatened to resign over such a situation.

I agree with all who say to tell HR what you know firsthand rather than “what everyone thinks” and leave it at that. I’ve threatened to quit a job in support of others before and then lost my own for being a troublemaking risk. I’ve quit an excellent job before in protest of someone else who was let go and they went on to find another job immediately at the same level while I have never again gotten that position; it cost me thousands of dollars a year and a decade to learn that lesson.

It is totally dependent upon how far the boss who fired my friend cares to take it. He can be stupid if he wants. It don’t mean shit to me, baby! I got nothin’ but time :)

I can’t stand by and do nothing when someone has been victimized by false accusations. I’m not good at office politics but my sense of ethics are unimpaired and I would make sure the truth came out and hopefully the injustice corrected.

I lost one job for standing up, but at least I can look at myself in the mirror. I would do it again any day, even if it wasn’t a friend of mine.

Das my girl :)