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Fired Via Instant Message

Posted by michael on from the new-low dept.

JThaddeus writes "Yahoo! news reports that South Korea's third-largest credit card issuer, KEB Credit Service, fired 161 people--a quarter of its workforce--via mobile phone text messages. Hey, at least they got told, right? Afterall, they could have been like Milton."

5 of 367 comments (clear)

  1. Fired OR? by Marvelicious · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm trying to figure out which is worse: getting fired by IM or getting dumped by IM.

    I do have to hand it to then for sheer cold-blooded brutality. The little devil guy that pops up over my right shoulder really got a kick out of this one!

    --
    Send whiskey and fresh horses!
  2. Re:Before you lose it... by WorkEmail · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Very true, in places in Europe most often Texting is so much cheaper than voice communication, so people become very fast at it. Becoming efficient with the T9 feature on phones is very important. I can send quick messages while I drive without even looking at my phone. Different phones have different methods of how you compose, read and send messages. Most new model phones come with T9(R) Predictive Text - when you start entering a word, you only have to press the key once for each letter and the phone will anticipate what word you are typing. T9(R) Predictive Text provides: Easy and fast text entry - just one key press per letter Nearly twice as fast as "multi-tap" text entry Ability to add custom words to your T9 dictionary Full punctuation and symbol capabilities Available in all major languages

  3. Re:It's not the first time this has happened by madpierre · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember this. The sacked staff went on a looting spree of their
    offices as I recall. It was hillarious seeng all these middle class
    lawyer types lugging chairs and stuff out of the building.

    The company director did a runner to Spain I think. :D

    --
    siggy played guitar
  4. Legal strength ? by lkratz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't know what are the job laws in South-Korea. But in most of European countries, theses SMS have probably no legal binding between employer and employees. The company still have to send some kind of registered letter "snail mail". Even if people are in strike and difficult to reach, I see no company advantage to send SMS to warn employees they are fired, they still need to send letters. And there effective dismissal starts when they receive there registered letter.

    There's also an issue about SMS authentication, do you think these 161 recipients know their HR manager GSM number and are able to verify the author of the message ? Could be anyone sending you that message : "you are fired. signed J.M. KEB Credit Service HR Manager"

  5. Re:Wouldn't it be cheaper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Come on. Registered mail costs about USD 7 here. One would assume that it's at most 2-3 times that much in Korea. Call it USD 20. For 161 people that comes to...USD 3220. That's not exactly unreasonable considering that companies which are winding down their operations typically spend anywhere from a few thousand to a few million on legal fees associated with the process. It seems a small price to pay for meeting one's obligations in a dignified manner.

    Not to mention the fact that this company isn't winding down its operations at all.

    Now, to be fair, if I go on strike I would feel the company totally justified in letting me go after three days for job abandonment (in California, job abandonment is defined as failure to report in for three consecutive days without leave), so a notice of any kind to striking workers seems entirely unnecessary. But contracts and foreign law probably place entirely different requirements on this particular circumstance.