Employee Automatically Terminated by Computer Program

Ibrahim Diallo, a software developer in Los Angeles, was working eight months into a three-year contract when his company was acquired by a larger organization. His original manager was laid off and assigned to work from home as a contractor during the transition period. Due to shock and frustration, this former manager neglected to renew Diallo's contract in the new automated system. When the contract expiration date arrived, the company's automated HR system initiated a termination process without human confirmation. The system progressively disabled Diallo's key card access, logged him out of work systems including JIRA and Windows accounts, and sent automated emails to security flagging him as a terminated employee. Despite his current manager and director's attempts to intervene and restore his access, the automated system continued its termination sequence, ultimately resulting in security guards escorting Diallo from the building. The process was described as irreversible once initiated, with each completed order triggering subsequent automated actions. It took three weeks for company leadership to identify the root cause and resolve the issue, during which Diallo was unpaid and had to be eventually rehired as a completely new employee with new paperwork and credentials.