Linda is fired shortly after her father’s death: ‘I felt bad about myself, but this hit everything’ | Work

A few weeks ago Linda Zwanenburg shares on LinkedIn the story about her father’s death and the dismissal that eventually follows. This yields Zwanenburg thousands of responses. “I got so many messages from people who had experienced something similar, it was really shocking.”

Zwanenburg’s story begins when her father suddenly becomes seriously ill. Cancer. He died after a short illness of two months. ,,He deteriorated very quickly, that had a huge impact on me. You see your father being eaten by the cancer before your very eyes. All I could do was cry and was unable to do anything, let alone work.”

From the moment her father is getting worse, Zwanenburg calls in sick at work. During that time, she unexpectedly receives a phone call from her supervisor asking if she can’t take her vacation days instead. ,,I was shocked, it was such a ridiculous proposal, because I was really sick with the grief and worry. Fortunately, I dared to say that they should leave me alone.”

Still, Zwanenburg begins to feel guilty about her sick leave. After a month, on the Monday after her father’s cremation, she reports back to the office. “Every day I went to work crying and drove back crying. It was very heavy. But I still wanted to go there for a few hours, to show my face.”

Her employer soon began to press for reintegration. Zwanenburg is sent to the company doctor and the company psychologist and her hours have to be increased. ,,One day I noticed that things were really not going well, then I stepped on the brakes myself. But my employer insisted even more. I sat crying with the company psychologist, who would casually say: ‘Well, another hour next week?’”

Zwanenburg finds it unbelievable that her employer has not given her the space to mourn. “All these years I have been so loyal. I was the first in the morning and one of the last to leave. And then you get to hear: ‘Yes, Linda, it has been three months since your father passed away’.”

In the end, Zwanenburg manages to get to work completely. But then she has to meet with her manager. She is told that her contract will be terminated due to dysfunction. “Maybe I was also less comfortable in my own skin and I had become a bit grumpy and stiff, but this hit everything.”

Zwanenburg decides to go home immediately after the meeting. The employment relationship is seriously disrupted after this message and she decides to engage a lawyer. For example, she and her employer agree to dismissal by mutual consent. She then retains the right to unemployment benefits and her boss does not have to invest in an improvement project.

Zwanenburg finds new work, but is then struck by another fate. A muscle disorder is discovered in her. Because working is no longer physically possible, she is completely rejected. “Actually, I’ve never been able to sit in an office chair for long without taking painkillers, but then it really didn’t work anymore.”

Zwanenburg will sit at home. She wants to continue to be part of society and decides to start her own blog. ,,I think I am still too young to do anything anymore, so I started writing about all kinds of questions in the field of HR.” Her blog is a hit and Zwanenburg is left with several customers. However, it turns out that the work is difficult to combine with a muscle disorder. Zwanenburg chooses to focus on just one subject: dismissal.

She now runs her company Linda’s Resources together with a former classmate and three other employees and she works – as much as her condition allows – as a dismissal expert. ,,Of course I know better than anyone how people feel who have just been fired and I also know the side of the employer. I want employees to stand up for themselves better, I would like to help them with that because dismissal can be a huge psychological blow. Suddenly a lot comes at you.”

Few employees dare to talk about their dismissal, says Zwanenburg. ,,Many settlement agreements state that you are not allowed to speak negatively about an ex-employer, that was also stated in mine. So I have to be careful, that’s why I don’t mention dates and names.”

Her initiative attracts many employees who seek help, but also does not go unnoticed by employers. “A number of employers have approached me after my LinkedIn post. Someone said: ‘Your post has shaken me up, firing people really should be different’.”

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