October 1, 2008
Terminating An Employee - A worker firing agreement is a legal contract
A worker firing agreement is a legal contract that you, the manager, should sign with the fired worker. A low risk layoff is one where the employee is unlikely to sue, and you have properly documented a lawful reason for terminating. (By the way, these types of personnel give you plenty of opportunities.) After you have given her 3 chances to improve her behavior, you'll have no choice but to lay off her. Because the employee is acting on the behalf of his coworkers, you can't layoff him for his e-mail without violating the law. Following Proper Procedures for Dismissing Workers for Misbehavior. (This is because he didn't ever write a rebuttal.) The Jury's Conclusion: The employee's alleged improper reason is bogus and only invented after the fact to extort money from the firm. However now and then managing problem employees is tougher. From my experience, I have identified 3 basic items you must have before dismissing any worker.
List any employee counseling or special training the boss offered or the jobholder completed in attempts to prevent this layoff. Again, this will lower the chance of a law suit when her new supervisor fires the problem employee. For example, you could cite her bad performance as evidence she likely didn't hold a similar job previously. In today's society, you should follow a proven lay off process to avoid lawsuits. By targeting the problem early, having a paper trail, and writing a memorandum of termination for cause, the termination will not be as difficult. By planning out your termination meeting ahead of time, you'll be less probably to say the "wrong" thing. Lastly there should be an area for both you and the employee to sign off on the separation notice. It's a bitter pill to swallow and sends a bad message to your productive workforce, but sometimes it's the only action you can take.