JT & Dale Talk Jobs: The angry boss: 'Can he do this?'

J.T.: Unless you’re part of a union, then, yes, he can fire you without cause. It’s called being an “at-will employee.” Clearly, something is going on where your boss feels that performance is down. If you don’t agree with him, it might be time to move on. If you don’t feel that you can comply with his wishes, I would start looking now because it’s easier to land a job when you have a job. Getting fired can make finding a new job a lot harder and also can put you in less of a bargaining position for salary negotiations.

DALE: OK, but let’s not go pessimistic so easily. First, your boss might just have been going through tough times, and he took it out on the team. It happens. Maybe he even deserves the same respect and compassion that you’d want for yourself if you had a bad spell; that is, try to look past the job title and understand that he has burdens he’s carrying — everyone does. So instead of trying to figure out where to go to complain, work to figure out how to help. Wait till he’s in better spirits and go to him and tell him that you want to come through for him and the team and you’d like his coaching on how to make things better. I suspect you’ll have a new and better relationship, and you’ll be a better person for it. Or, you may be told to butt out; if so, then you’ll know it’s time to move on. If that happens, don’t just search for a good job; search for a great boss, the sort who sees developing employees as a key personal aspiration.