Update!

This writer couldn't get a letter of recommendation after her layoff. She posted a response in the comments, but also sent me this:

My recent post was about letters of recommendation. I actually did post a kind of a follow-up, but it is listed as "anonymous." The only thing that has changed is that one of my previous directors did indeed supply me with a letter. He was never that "by the book" and was always a champion of me (unlike the person that chose me to be laid off). I also found someone of even higher status who now works with another company who is willing to write a letter, but I have not seen the letter yet.

This person's brother-in-law was going to be laid off, but

The other guy decided against trying for his license, so my brother in law's job is safe, for now.

Good for him, not so good for the other man.

This person took a dream job that turned into a nightmare. It has a happy ending, though:

Shortly after I wrote, things went from bad to worse, and I was let go at the end of September. However, my story has a happy ending. Via LinkedIn, a former co-worker saw my situation and put me in touch with his current employer. I was brought on board as a contractor in October, and went direct last week. I love my new job and the company and I am working for. They are very professional and the culture is fantastic - they truly value their employees. For example, my first week, I made a pretty serious mistake. I realized it immediately, and fixed it, but in other companies it could have gotten me fired. Instead, management looked at the whole situation (they liked that I had documented everything in real time, which made it possible for me to roll back my mistake easily) and realized the fault was really their own....I was too new to have been working on the problem. So instead of yelling at me, they reviewed THEIR procedures, and I came out looking good.

This person had an employee who was unable to work. These can be complex cases, and it got more complex, but it seems to be better:

Well, what happened… the employee hooked up with a lawyer who hasn’t really done him any favors. He actually filed a separate claim stating he hadn’t been given breaks. (Not true and we had an abundance of proof)). We went before the labor board with him, and our company prevailed. In the meantime he is still on disability, and the claim has not been settled. We are letting the insurance carrier handle it, and they say it will be unlikely that he would ever be able to work without some sort of restrictions. We have found out since that this is the second such claim he had filed (the other claim with a previous employer). After the Labor Board meeting, he was very upset at not having won his case, and verbally threatened us. Not too pleasant. We have no idea when he will be released for work, but the fact remains that he is not qualified for any type of office work since he cannot fluently read or write English or use a computer. His restrictions in the past included standing and sitting over certain lengths of time, no lifting, etc, which makes him unsuitable for warehouse work. If he comes back, I still have no position for him based on those restrictions. But based on what we know now, I don’t think that we will see him again – I think he is just looking for a large settlement at this point