As an employment lawyer, I’ve seen too many clients who were completely blindsided by a termination. They thought everything was fine or that a problem was just minor and then suddenly they were called into a meeting with HR and told to pack their things. They missed the warning signs and their employer counts on this happening.

By the time they realize what’s happening, their HR department has already built a case. So, in this video, I’m breaking down four specific signs that your boss is secretly laying the groundwork to fire you. For each one, I’ll explain what’s really happening behind the scenes and what you need to do to start protecting yourself.

Before we begin, you know the drill. This is not legal advice. I am an employment lawyer in Washington State, but this video is for educational purposes only. Your situation is unique. So, if you find yourself in a legal situation, talk to a lawyer in your area. The first sign is a sudden and dramatic increase in official documentation.

This is where you’ve been a solid employee for years and then suddenly you’re getting hit with formal writeups for things that used to be simple verbal conversations. A tiny typo in a report, now it’s a formal email with HR copied about your failure to pay attention to detail.

You’re 5 minutes late after a bad traffic jam. Now you’re getting a written warning about your punctuality. Here’s what’s really going on. This is not about helping you improve. This is about documentation. An employer who wants to fire you, especially if it’s for an illegal reason like discrimination or retaliation, needs to create the appearance of a legal reason for your termination.

So that if you ever sue them for wrongful termination, they can point to this evidence and say you were a bad employee who deserve to be fired. So in other words, they are building a poor performance file to justify your termination. By the time they call you into that final meeting, they’ll pull out this file and say, “See, we’ve been warning you for months.

” And this is the single biggest red flag that your boss is secretly trying to fire you, and you must take this one seriously. The second sign is that the whole vibe of your check-ins with your boss has changed. They used to be casual, collaborative, and forward-looking, but now they feel stiff, scripted, and backward-looking.

your boss suddenly starts using vague corporate HR speak. They’ll say things like, “We need to see more ownership from you.” Or, “There are concerns about your alignment with team goals.” You might also notice them asking you to explain emails or decisions from weeks ago. Here’s what’s really happening.

Your boss is no longer your collaborator. They are now a manager collecting evidence. They are almost certainly having secret meetings with HR who is coaching them on what to say and what not to say to you. These vague phrases are chosen carefully. They’re hard for you to argue against, but they look great in a memo to file that your boss writes after your beating.

This one is a classic setup for failure move, and it’s incredibly sneaky. Your boss suddenly decides to lighten your load. They take that big important client or that high-profile project you’ve been leading, and they give it to someone else. They’ll frame it as helping you out or letting you focus on your core tasks. But here’s the trap.

They are making you irrelevant. First, they’re proving to the rest of the company that your work can get done without you. Second, they’re taking away your ability to have any wins. When your performance review comes or when they’re deciding who to let go, all your biggest projects are gone.

It makes it easy for them to say, “What have you really accomplished this quarter?” They are sidelining you before they take you out. The final sign is a sudden interest in the tiny details of your job. This is where your boss, who used to trust you to work autonomously, suddenly wants to be CCD on all of your emails.

Or they ask you to walk them through all of your client files. Or they ask for a full list of all of your projects and their exact status. They might even start joining your meetings just to observe. But here’s the trap. They will frame this as support. They’ll say, “I just want to get a better handle on your workload so I can help you.

” Or, “I’m just trying to get a 30,000 ft overview of the department.” But most of the time, this is not just support. It’s an audit. They are mapping every single one of your job responsibilities. They are creating an internal inventory of what you do, who you talk to, and what files you use for one simple reason, so they can properly hand off your work to your replacement.

They are secretly building a user manual for your job, so that when they fire you, the transition will be seamless. So, what do you do if you’re seeing these signs? First, start your own paper trail. If your boss criticizes you in a meeting, go back to your desk and send a confirming email. Something like, “Hi, boss.

Just to follow up on our chat, I want to make sure I understand.” You’re saying that insert criticism, and I’m going to focus on insert a solution. You see, this creates a written record that you control, not your boss. Second, respond to any write-ups calmly and factually. I have a whole video on how to do this, but the short version is this. Don’t be emotional.

Correct any factual errors with evidence. Third, and I know this is hard to hear, but if you see these signs, you need to quietly start looking for a new job. You want to leave on your terms, not on theirs. And finally, if you believe this is all happening for an illegal reason because of your age, your race, your gender, or because you just reported harassment, or something else illegal, it is time to talk to an employment lawyer.

Now, I want to hear from you. What’s the most subtle sneaky sign you’ve ever seen that someone was about to get fired? Let me know in the comments. And look, spotting these signs is the first step. But sometimes these tactics are part of a larger, more toxic strategy to make you quit on your own.

That’s called constructive discharge. And I made a video about that, too. That’s why your next step is to watch my video, Five Signs you’re being pushed out of your job. I’ve put it right here on the screen somewhere, so you can see if those signs look familiar, too. And if this was helpful, give it a like and subscribe for more videos that empower workers.

Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time.