Business Decision Firing Bob involves certain costs. The company has already incurred the cost of hiring and training Bob. There will be costs involved in any claim that Bob might make for unemployment, which has nothing to do with whether it was legal to fire him. But, the business decision is not just one of economics. Emotional costs often drive such decisions.
Emotional costs are real and can be a good enough reason to act.
The key is not to make angry, reactive decisions. When economic and emotional reasons combine, a company might decide it is simply time for a change. If a job transfer and some type of re-training are not available, a change means discharge. The legal decision became a little more treacherous in 2000 with a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing . The Reeves case addressed a procedural issue regarding the burden of proof at a stage of litigation called summary judgment.