Reply #23: If they've not spoken to you yet... [View All]

...then you're not terminated. Just shutting off your access doesn't mean you've been terminated. In most states, you're on the payroll right up until you get written notice of termination. If you're a salaried employee and not an hourly wage earner, that can be significant in terms of your last paycheck.

With that having been said, I've been on the other side of this. In my old job as an information security administrator, I've been asked on more than one occasion to quietly turn off the access of people who are either under investigation or about to be terminated for cause. It makes sense - someone who suspects that they're under investigation might be tempted to "cover their tracks", and someone who sees the handwriting on the wall might leave a "going away present" on their former employer's network. This even applies more to people who may have had elevated privileges to crucial systems - you mention that you're in IT, so you almost certainly fall into this category.

Letting someone find out about their termination that way is just sloppy and downright inhumane, and I'm sorry you had to find out that way. But, turning off your access as soon as the decision was made to terminate you is just sound security and risk-management policy.