<prompt> Human: So some background:My mother is 59 years old and has been working as an aid at an elementary school for the past 23 years. She is 2 years away from retirement. Shes been a loyal employee, is well liked by co-workers, and was treated fairly by the schools past principals. Recently, a new and very young principal was hired to replace the previous one that retired. Back in March, this principal pulled my mother into the office and gave her some new student project duties to complete in her role as teacher aid. My mother completed them as ordered and was given NO complaint by her core teacher or the principal. Yesterday, the principal informed my mother that she would not be given a new contract for the upcoming 2017-18 school year and that her employment was no longer wanted, as she was unsatisfactory in her role, losing her ability to control her classes, and the school needed to put her salary toward hiring a new core teacher. My mother was absolutely blind-sided and shocked. She is so close to retirement and has loved her job for many years and has completed it with no bad reviews prior to now. My mother had one job prior to her current that she has now lost, and she held that one at another school for 11 years and left on good terms. My mother is in complete disarray and feels completely betrayed, lost, and hopeless that she will be able to find a new position at her age. She will be forced to take early retirement and seek employment elsewhere. She has no experience in anything other than teachingchildcare. My question is: Is firing so close to retirement commonplace when an employee has worked in the facility long term? What should my mother take as her next steps in moving forward? How would she go about explaining her firing on a new job application?What type of ramifications come along with taking early retirement, if she has no other choice in order to make ends meet? This has been a horrible situation. Its really backward to feel worrried for your parent. You always think of parents as being strong... Im lost as to how to help.Edit: Thanks everyone for the advice. You guys are really great. A little update: My mother, it turns out, was only one of many in her school that got the can last week. The principal let go all of the faculty whom had the most years served in the building. A happy note though- Along with her other retirement benefits, the school is being forced to pay her out for all of the personal benefit and sick time she never used over the years... This payout totals upwards of 10k. Her current contract does not end until the last day of July, so she will continue receiving her salary checks as usual until that time. This, luckily, buys her some time to find a new job before her current checks stop. Lastly, shes gotten two other schools in a different district that are already asking her to come in to interview this week. Fingers crossed! Assistant: I was 58 and laid of from an insurance company at which Id worked for 25 years. Id always had good reviews, but the company was bought and new management decided to get rid of the employees who had too much vacation. It was a shock. Sadly, its quite common.The first thing she needs to do is file for unemployment and assess her financial situation. If she is able she should take 3-6 months to relax, chill out and get over the shock. Again if she is financially able Life Coaches can be a great resources.She was not fired. When looking for work she needs to say she was laid off or the school was going through a reorganization. No one even blinks at that its so common.Its tough when youe older as age discrimination is alive and well. Oddly, my layoff turned out to be the best thing that could happened. I put my severance into an IRA, became a consultant making more and never looked back. Human: Thanks for the advice! Im trying to stay positive for her sake. I cant imagine the loss of identity that goes along with starting over in your 50s. So glad to hear you made it through the rough patch and came out on top.  <response>: This happened to my mother at her hospital when new management came in, except she wasnt fired for unsatisfactory work. They tried to get her for conspiracy and all types of other made up bullshit as you cant fire someone for unsatisfactory when they have decades of satisfactory work. Her union 1199 was absolutely worthless in this whole debacle. Im guessing new management and the union reps were in bed together. Either way, she lawyerd up and is suing as nobody will ever hire a conspirator. This is still ongoing so hopefully theres a happy ending. 