Fired than re-hired if you sign document

[paronoff]

I work at a union facility. It was bought by a large corporation who presented all employees with a document stating that we were fired and that we needed to sign this document in order to be re-hired by the corporation. I did sign. Is this legal?

 

[Beth3]

Sure. Formally "firing" everyone and then rehiring employees when an acquisition occurs is pretty common. It likely has to do with the former employer's and the new employer's benefit plans as well as the new employer not taking on liability for any "bad acts" the former employer may have engaged in.

I don't know what the document you signed stated but it probably said something along the lines that you acknowledged that your employment with ABC Company ceased as of da/mo/year and that you began new employment with XYZ Company as of that date.