Article: You've got mail: 'We're letting you go'; Impersonal 'cyber-firings' via e-mail - even text message - have become an expedient way to lay employees off.(FEATURES)(CURRENTS)

Byline: Marilyn Gardner Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Laura Browne remembers all too well the day in 1999 when she stayed home from work, ill, and received a startling phone message from her boss. "The company hasn't been doing well," he began. "We've had to let some people go, and you've been affected. As of today, you're off the payroll."

Seven years later, that cavalier treatment still rankles her. "They couldn't even have left a message saying, 'We have to talk to you about something - please call us back.' I would have liked the courtesy of having my boss actually talk to me about it."

Ms. Browne is not alone in longing for ...

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