I feel guilty. I helped get someone fired.

[Anonymous]

I am a partner in a professional firm in DC, but I think a lot about a colleague of mine who was fired about 4 years ago.

She was African American and very intelligent. My boss however, never liked her. He made many a negative comment about African Americans. He was enraged about the Kobe Bryant case, and thought that he needed to be put in jail to "teach black men a lesson".
This co-worker and I started together. She went to great schools and came from an upper middle class family, something my boss despised. She worked as well as anyone else in the firm, actually, better than most, and was given some of the more challenging projects.

One day may boss decided to get the senior partners to get rid of her. He asked me and one other person to make complaints about her. I went along. I did it because I was jealous of her, she was having her second child while I was having trouble conceiving. I complained about her taking a short cut to do one thing, a process that I never thought of. There was actually nothing wrong with the way she did it, just different. As a matter of fact, we use her method all the time now.

Once my boss was on that rampage, it was all over for her.

To make a long story short, they fired her, she sued, they retracted, she quit. My boss sent out bad vibes about her to other similar firms.
She was 6 months along in her pregnancy when she left. She had the baby a bit prematurely, went to a job that she never liked just to pay bills. That firm folded. Her next job was another mess (long commute). I hear that she is now working for a non-profit.

I hear many people say that race has nothing to do with your career outcome. I think they are wrong. I wish that I stayed out of that mess back then. I think about it every day. I have a child now, I am partner, I could have had all of that without the fight.

[Anonymous]

Is your boss and a lot of the other senior partners still there? If not and if you now have influence over hiring people could you consider offering her a job? That's probably a crazy idea since they fired her and she sued, but I would look for some way to make this up to her. I hate to sound harsh, but it sounds like you may have ruined her career, which she probably worked very hard to get where she was and paid a lot of money for that education, because you were jealous and couldn't stand up to your boss. I can't imagine that happening to me while I am pg with my 2nd right now. Financially, a 2nd child brings a lot of uncertainty to some families and to be fired while pg makes it that much harder considering finding a new job, benefits, etc.

I'm not sure how to help you get over this feeling since you contributed to her downfall at a major career.

[Anonymous]

I think you made this entire thing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you made this entire thing up.

Why? does it remind you of someone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is your boss and a lot of the other senior partners still there? If not and if you now have influence over hiring people could you consider offering her a job? That's probably a crazy idea since they fired her and she sued, but I would look for some way to make this up to her. I hate to sound harsh, but it sounds like you may have ruined her career, which she probably worked very hard to get where she was and paid a lot of money for that education, because you were jealous and couldn't stand up to your boss. I can't imagine that happening to me while I am pg with my 2nd right now. Financially, a 2nd child brings a lot of uncertainty to some families and to be fired while pg makes it that much harder considering finding a new job, benefits, etc.

I'm not sure how to help you get over this feeling since you contributed to her downfall at a major career.

She sued for something having to do with being fired while pregnant and sex discrimination. I think the suit was to get management to take back the firing, so she could resign. I heard that one of the senior partners frequently recommends her, since he was always pleased with her work. She has not had trouble from a professional standpoint that way, just with the second child and a new job, and a law suit, she landed without a parachute.

[Anonymous]

If this is true, then you should feel awful. You are a weak person. Look out, karma is a b*tch.

[zumbamama]

why would someone make this up? It is pretty big thing to fess up to. Kudos for the confession but, yeah, it's awful that it happened to begin with...and that no one stood up for her. I hope your ex-coworker will find someone better to work for and not some POS. Whether he realizes it or not, in a way, it's good that your boss lost such a good employee, because he doesn't deserve her. What comes around goes around.

[Anonymous]

She made it up - at least some parts of it.

The "awful complaint" really wasn't so awful in the end and turned out to be better.... No one gets fired because of a complaint that isn't a complaint.

Sounds too much like a soap opera.

What I bet is that this person believes she witnessed something like this and is taking on a different role in the story to prove some other point to some other reader.

[Anonymous]

zumbamama wrote:why would someone make this up? It is pretty big thing to fess up to. Kudos for the confession but, yeah, it's awful that it happened to begin with...and that no one stood up for her. I hope your ex-coworker will find someone better to work for and not some POS. Whether he realizes it or not, in a way, it's good that your boss lost such a good employee, because he doesn't deserve her. What comes around goes around.

It's made up. It's ridiculous and meant to start a debate.

ps: are you really commending her for the "confession"? ha.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I did not make it up. I shielded certain things because I don't want to get into trouble. The big thing is that the industry that I am in is not at all obvious from what I wrote, so it may read a bit awkwardly. No law firm, or PR. I can't give more details.

I hope that everyone else that writes has the sense to leave identifiable info out of these threads.

BTW, I am not into Karma. Lots of women do catty things to each other every day on the job. I just exploited this situation, and it mushroomed.

[Anonymous]

why do people think this is made up? Do you not think it is that easy to get fired? It is. And if they were out to get her it wouldn't take much especially if two people were helping.

[zumbamama]

Anonymous wrote:

zumbamama wrote:why would someone make this up? It is pretty big thing to fess up to. Kudos for the confession but, yeah, it's awful that it happened to begin with...and that no one stood up for her. I hope your ex-coworker will find someone better to work for and not some POS. Whether he realizes it or not, in a way, it's good that your boss lost such a good employee, because he doesn't deserve her. What comes around goes around.

It's made up. It's ridiculous and meant to start a debate.

ps: are you really commending her for the "confession"? ha.

I'm no lie detector or psychic, so I can't say if it is made up or not. As for confession, I do think (some) people have the ability to realize their mistakes and feel guilty for them. I have made mistakes I am not proud of. Not to this extent, but if she is sorry about what she did, I'm not going to trash her confession. I certainly wish she could take it all back and spare that woman the heartache and stress she had to endure....maybe she will have the opportunity to help her one day or help justice serve her evil, racist boss. If it were me, I would find another job...I don't think I could live with myself to labor and sweat for a POS boss like that.

[Anonymous]

Sounds made up. A take on the Obamas and the other post about catty children. Why would she have been hired in the first place, only to be fired for discrimination, which of course spells lawsuit. And how does the OP know what happened to the former co-worker since she was fired? I doubt she would have kept in contact with the OP.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the outcome would've been the same regardless of your "help" getting your colleague fired.

Sounds like you've been hearing a lot about this person through the grapevine, but have you had direct contact with her? If so, is she interested in networking with you and finding a better place or is she now content with the non profit?