Boyfriend got laid off without warning
I am taking the help of chatgpt to clean up my post.
My boyfriend (let's call him H) was working as a Business Development Executive at a software company based out of Gurgaon. It was a remote job so H was working out of Bangalore. He'd been there for about a year and handled leads and accounts across five different regions worldwide, with the US being the biggest. He consistently performed well, never slacked off, and brought in a good number of leads.
Around three months ago, a new employee joined (let's call him Y), who happened to be a close friend of H's manager (X). Soon after, X reassigned H's two largest accounts to Y, leaving H with only three smaller ones.
H immediately raised concerns with X, explaining that most of his leads had always come from those larger accounts and that the smaller regions simply didn't generate the same volume. He repeatedly asked to have his accounts back, and X kept saying he'd "look into it," but nothing ever changed.
Fast forward to today. H was suddenly called into a meeting with HR and X and was told that he was being let go. They pressured him to submit his resignation during the call itself, without giving him any time to process what was happening or discuss any alternatives.
What frustrates me even more is that H had never received a warning, performance improvement plan, or any indication that his job was at risk. It went from everything seeming normal to "resign right now."
To make things even more suspicious, X had previously told H on multiple occasions that he had tried to hire Y before, but H had been selected for the role instead. Looking back, it feels like Y was brought in specifically to replace H.
I'm obviously biased because H is my boyfriend, but this whole situation feels incredibly unfair. He put in a year's worth of effort, built relationships, brought in business, and then had his biggest accounts taken away before being let go.
I've suggested that he request a meeting with the director to understand what actually happened and also speak with a lawyer friend of his before signing or agreeing to anything further. But sadly H has already put down his papers as he was coerced into it in the call.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Is this just unfortunate office politics, or does this sound like something that could amount to unfair or wrongful termination? We'd especially appreciate hearing from people who've dealt with similar situations or who know how employment law generally works.