So some background: My mother is 59 years old and has been working as an aid at an elementary school for the past 23 years. She is 2 years away from retirement. She's been a loyal employee, is well liked by co-workers, and was treated fairly by the school's past principals.
Recently, a new and very young principal was hired to replace the previous one that retired. Back in March, this principal pulled my mother into the office and gave her some new student project duties to complete in her role as teacher aid. My mother completed them as ordered and was given NO complaint by her core teacher or the principal.
Yesterday, the principal informed my mother that she would not be given a new contract for the upcoming 2017-18 school year and that her employment was no longer wanted, as she "was unsatisfactory in her role, losing her ability to control her classes, and the school needed to put her salary toward hiring a new core teacher." My mother was absolutely blind-sighted and shocked. She is so close to retirement and has loved her job for many years and has completed it with no bad reviews prior to now.
My mother had one job prior to her current that she has now lost, and she held that one (at another school) for 11 years and left on good terms. My mother is in complete disarray and feels completely betrayed, lost, and hopeless that she will be able to find a new position at her age. She will be forced to take early retirement and seek employment elsewhere. She has no experience in anything other than teaching/childcare.
My question is: Is firing so close to retirement commonplace when an employee has worked in the facility long term?
What should my mother take as her next steps in moving forward? How would she go about explaining her firing on a new job application?
What type of ramifications come along with taking early retirement, if she has no other choice in order to make ends meet?
This has been a horrible situation. It's really backward to feel worrried for your parent. You always think of parents as being strong... I'm lost as to how to help.
Submitted May 13, 2017 at 09:57PM by waffles_n_butter http://ift.tt/2qfFHTH
