I stopped by my local mechanic yesterday to have a brake noise diagnosed. While I was waiting for them to take a look at the car, a fellow walked in to pick up his car. He was, apparently, friends with the owner and struck up a conversation about his current employment situation. The customer had been laid off from his job the week before and was getting a little concerned about finding a new position.
As I waited, I started talking to the guy. Turns out, he is retired from the military. Young guy, couldn’t have been more than early 40’s. Anyway, he told me that he thought he was laid off because the owner of the company knew he was retired and received his military retirement check.
This got me thinking. Let’s assume that this guy was laid off because the boss assumed that he could handle it better than someone without the retirement benefits. Is this fair? If you own a business, should you consider other factors in addition to length of service or necessity of the job function? Should you lay off people with family before someone whose family has died? Should you lay off a married person with a working spouse before a married person whose spouse stays at home?
