Five Reasons Why it is Better to Be Fired Than Quit

In his recently released book, “Fired!,” Steven Sack cites the wise advice of Marshall Loeb when he says: “Never quit; make the company fire you.” This is because you put yourself in a much worse position, legally speaking, if you voluntarily resign instead of being fired. Here are just five reasons why it is better to be fired by your employer than to quit:

1. You can receive unemployment benefits One of the biggest reasons to wait to be fired instead of quitting is that you can apply for unemployment benefits. If you quit your job instead of being fired, you will likely be considered ineligible for those benefits, since they are not available for people who became unemployed voluntarily. By waiting to be fired, you make it more likely you will be able to get unemployment, so you know you will get to have some money coming in while you seek new work.

2. You may get a severance package Another important reason to avoid quitting rather than getting fired is that you may be able to negotiate a severance package with your employer. Depending on the nature of your job and your employment contract, you may be able to get a fairly generous severance. If you quit, however, don’t expect to get much of anything out of your employer when you leave.

3. You have more of an opportunity to seek other work Another advantage to being fired rather than quitting is that you are more likely to have more time to seek out other work. If you quit as soon as you find things going wrong for you, you may be stuck without work and with no unemployment benefits or severance to tide you over. If you wait to be fired, that gives you more opportunity to find another employer, hopefully one that will treat you better.

4. It gives you more of a chance to collect evidence Another important reason to let yourself be fired rather than quit is it gives you more of an opportunity to collect evidence for use in any future legal proceedings. An employer never needs to justify itself if an employee quits, which may leave a limited paper trail. However, employers can leave mountains of evidence when they fire people as part of their justifications, which you can use to help file claims against your employer.

5. Your employer can’t claim you left voluntarily If you wait to be fired rather than quit, your employer cannot claim that you left your job of your own free will, independent of anything they did. Employees who quit and then file lawsuits against their employer often find themselves hard-pressed to prove they were forced to quit. By allowing yourself to be fired, though, you can avoid this hurdle and make it far easier to prove your case.

Steven Mitchell Sack, the Employee’s Lawyer, is a New York employment lawyer with more than 41 years’ experience handling the many aspects of employment law. His new book, “Fired!: Protect Your Rights & FIGHT BACK If You’re Terminated, Laid Off, Downsized, Restructured, Forced to Resign or Quit,” is available for order in hardback, softback, and digital formats, and carries priceless advice on dealing with employment and labor law issues. To schedule an appointment with New York City employment lawyer Steven Mitchell Sack, call (917) 371-8000 or visit his contact page.