Big mistake on your boss' part. Not only is it idiotic for obvious reasons, he will also soon realise just how spoiled, and therefore likely lazy, his girlfriend really is. And she will realise that this whole "working" thing isn't as fun as getting her boyfriend to get stuff for her.

#19, you assume that the girlfriend does not already work there.Shhe could have come from a different department in the same company. Either way, that's an awful thing to have to go through OP.

Georgia's an at-will state, so no luck there. :( At least OP might get severance, and if not that, an easier time filing for unemployment, if necessary. That boss is such a douchenozzle.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was the exact definition of at-will. Federal law only covers discrimination based on certain grounds, and even then it's not applicable if the company has less than 15 people.

As someone who lives and works in Georgia, you can be fired for any reason other than a federally protected reason(religion, race, sex, sexual orientation). That means that the company/boss was well within the law to fire him and hire/promote his own gf. As long as the company can prove that it wasn't for one of the reasons protected under the Equal Opportunity act then there's nothing that can be done about it except filing a complaint with someone higher up and pursuing severance/unemployment/new employment.

Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Hiring your girlfriend is an Equal Employment Opportunity Act violation, and subjects you to action by the EEOC. The reason being that it creates a "quid pro quo" form of sex discrimination: the hire is based on the fact you're having sex with the person rather than their merits for the position. For this reason, most companies expressly prohibit you from hiring anyone you have any sort of romantic connection to, or from having a romantic connection with a superior. This is definitely actionable, even in Georgia.

The EEOC has successfully prosecuted civil discrimination cases based on both inappropriate same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. The sex of the harasser and victim don't make any difference in the applicability of the law, only that sex is the reason for workplace behavior. Someone can still (sadly) fire you because you're LGBT, but not because they prefer their LGBT partner for sexual reasons, or fire you for refusing sexual advances/harassment.

Depends on the company's policy

And clearly OP wasn't able to deliver what the boss wanted

What are you talking about, 50? ******** under the desk? OP obviously knows how to do the job right.

The boss will come to his senses (hopefully) when the gf doesn't do the job right.

Achievement Unlocked

17, even if "he came to his senses", I wouldn't want to work for him again.

You haven't been here long have you?

He did, it's just such a 'clear' line it's invisible. *ba dun tsss*

I'm not positive, but I'd imagine that Georgia is an at will employment state, which basically means as long as his boss didn't specifically say that OP was fired because he was black or gay or something, there is nothing he did that was illegal. Hiring the GF might go against company policy so op still might have some grounds to complain.

This is the most blatant case of nepotism I have ever heard of. It's so blatant that it adheres directly to the dictionary definition of the word. In actuality, your ex-boss is an obtuse sonofabitch. It's going to bite him in the asshole sooner rather than later, and he's going to wind up with quite the quandary on his hands. While it's a blessing (in a sense) to not have to be embroiled in potential workplace drama, you did just lose a job for a terrible reason, and, if it's not at-will employment, then you should check your labor law and see what you can do.

Nepotism: the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs. You are 100% correct

You can fire without reason, but you can't fire when sex is the reason. In this case, it clearly is. Sex discrimination law at the federal level has been read by courts to include favoring a romantic partner over another person on the basis of the relationship.