I was laid off last Friday during my Weekly Manager's Sync.
Hey everyone, I need some perspective on a situation that just went down with my employer. I work the night shift, and my manager is based in a different timezone.
On Thursday, my manager asked to move our usual sync to an earlier time, claiming he was busy during our regular slot. This felt off to me because the new time was not during his normal office hours. My gut intuition told me he might be trying to loop in HR, since the rescheduled time aligned perfectly with the general day shift in my country.
Because I work nights and would normally be sleeping, I negotiated the meeting to a time slightly earlier than our usual sync. I checked the calendar invite, and no one else was listed on it.
The moment I joined the call (which was early morning for him), two HR representatives sneaked onto the line. My manager didn't even hesitate, he just flat out said, "We're letting you go," and immediately dropped off the call, leaving me alone with HR.
HR then informed me that they were handling this as a "resignation" with one month of Garden Leave. Under intense pressure, I was forced to draft and submit my resignation right there on the call.
I feel completely blindsided and ambushed. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? Is it legal for them to force a resignation instead of laying me off? Any advice on what I should do next regarding my garden leave and final paperwork would be greatly appreciated.