Can You Fire An Employee Because You Just Don’t Get Along?

Yep. Most of the time. Sometimes, it’s called insubordination if you disagree with the boss too often. Sometimes, it’s called failure to meet expectations if you’re not doing what the boss tells you to do. The end result is the same. You’re fired.

The latest example is the firing of the dean of Duquesne University Law School by the president of Duquesne University. It’s caused quite a stir. Students are holding protests. Alums are withholding contributions.

There’s no question that the dean accomplished quite a bit during his three year tenure. There’s also no question that the dean and the president often disagreed. The dean’s supporters say that the dean’s only failing was his inability to get along with the president. The dean’s detractors don’t see it that way, but even if everyone did, the president can fire a dean when they don’t get along.

This nonetheless presents a conundrum of sorts in the workplace, particularly at higher levels. One of the most important things that every executive should require of members of his team is disagreement. If that’s not the case, then some bad ideas are implemented, and some good ones aren’t. The last thing needed by someone at the top is a bunch of yes men or yes women.

But once the disagreement has been expressed and discussed, the person at the top gets to decide. As long as the person who expressed disagreement doesn’t try to do an end run or be disruptive to the boss’s decision, then the fact that there’s additional disagreement from the same person on other issues shouldn’t matter. Indeed, it should be welcomed. It’s possible, of course, that continuing disagreement about everything can cause a difficult, even tumultuous, working relationship. Perhaps that’s what happened in the Duquesne case, and it just became impossible to get along well enough for everyone’s job to get done as it should.

It’s been my experience that it’s hard to find subordinates willing to disagree with the boss. If you have one, think long and hard before shutting down a voice of dissent. You may not get another one, and it’ll discourage those still around to speak up when they disagree.

1. 

   phr says:

   January 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm

   What happens when you are responsible for HR and your opinions (disagreements)get you fired.
2. 

   John Phillips says:

   January 24, 2009 at 7:24 pm

   Unless your opinions/disagreements were about something unlawful your employer was doing, there’s probably nothing wrong with firing someone because of contrary opinions and the like. As I’ve often noted on this blog, allowing dissent in an organization is important, but failing to do so is ordinarily not illegal.

   If you were disagreeing about some practice that was unlawful, you could be a whistle-blower, and firing you would be problematic. If you were speaking out against an employer’s discriminatory practices and got fired for that, your termination could be in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

   What one might call “ordinary disagreement” isn’t protected activity, however.