The Employee Who Was Fired From a Job Without a Job Description

The Employee Who Was Fired from a Job With No Job Description
(AKA: How to Lose a Lawsuit in 3 Easy Steps)

A founder calls me, exasperated:

“We had no choice. She just wasn’t performing.”

I ask:

“Can you send me the job description?”

Silence.

Then:

“Well… we never really wrote one. But she knew what she was supposed to do.”

Sure she did.

In reality, the employee (let’s call her Mia) was hired as “Head of Operations,” which secretly meant:

• Ops

• HR

• Office manager

• Culture fairy

• Random-fire-fighter-in-chief

What they didn’t have:

• No job description

• No clear top 5 responsibilities

• No metrics

• No 30/60/90 expectations

• No regular check-ins where any of this got clarified

But yes, let’s call it a performance issue.

Step 1: Hire for a Vibe, Not a Role

They wanted someone “organized,” who could “wear a lot of hats,” and “step up.”

Translation: do whatever we’re annoyed about this week.

Different leaders had different private expectations:

• CEO thought she’d run leadership meetings

• Ops assumed she owned vendors

• Finance assumed she’d keep people on budget

• Someone else assumed she’d “fix the culture”

Nobody sat down and said:

“Here are your priorities. Here’s what success looks like. Here’s how we’ll measure it.”

But everyone kept score anyway.

Step 2: Fire First, Document Later

When they finally fired Mia, here’s what existed on paper:

• Generic offer letter

• A few vague “we need you to step up” comments

• No written expectations

• No performance plan

• No job description

She hired an attorney.

Now the company is being asked for:

• Job description

• Performance standards

• Documentation of expectations

• Evidence she was told she wasn’t meeting them

This is where “we just felt it wasn’t working” stops sounding strategic and starts sounding arbitrary and discriminatory.

Regardless of how the case lands, they’re now:

• Paying attorneys

• Burning leadership time

• Quietly realizing this was preventable with a 2-page document and three frank conversations

“But We’re a Startup, We Move Fast”

You can absolutely say:

“Your role will evolve. Here’s what we know now. We’ll revisit it quarterly.”

That’s agility.

What’s not agility:

• No written role

• No aligned expectations

• No documented feedback

• Sudden termination for “performance”

That’s just chaos with a hoodie.

How Not to Be This Story

For any role where someone can be fired for “performance,” you need:

1. A real job description

   • Short summary

   • 5–7 core responsibilities

2. 3–5 success indicators

   • What “good” looks like in plain language

3. Leadership alignment

   • Everyone agrees what this role actually owns

4. Basic performance rhythm

   • 30/60/90 for new hires

   • Regular check-ins and written notes when things are off

5. A grown-up exit process

   • Clear warning

   • Time to improve

   • Termination that’s disappointing, not shocking

Save yourself time and money by ensuring every single employee has a job description.