What
You Must Consider When Terminating Employees
Letting an employee go may be fraught with many problems and correlating
legalities. Even “at will” employees who understand
that they may lose their job at any time may have legal recourse
if your reasons for firing an employee are invalid.
Therefore, it is well to review some of the reasons for firing
an employee. Some of these include:
*Misbehavior or rudeness toward clients or customers
*Drunkenness or substance abuse on-the-job
*Theft of company property
*Frequent and unexplained absences from work
*Entering false information on records
*Gross insubordination
*Incompetence or failure to respond to training
*Fighting or other physical aggression
*Sexual harassment
*Verbal abuse
*Using company property for personal business
Document Your Reasons for Firing an Employee
In each these cases, the well-informed employer will have clear
documentation the employee understood company policy. Also, the
employer should document evidence of misconduct and keep it on
file with a written summary of the termination. Even when firing
an “at will” employee, the manager must exercise care
in wording the reasons for the termination. For example, the employer
should not claim “downsizing” when he or she plans
immediately to hire another employee to perform the same job.
It is not enough merely to suspect that an employee has violated
a company policy. The employer should never fire an employee on
a whim or out of resentment. Management should remain calm and
collected during the entire process. The reasons for firing an
employee may be valid, but handling the situation badly can cancel
this.
When there are economic reasons for firing an employee, consider
several factors. The main question an employer will have is, “Which
employee should I terminate?” This can become a sticky situation
and there are many aspects to consider:
*Which employees have the greatest longevity of service?
*Which employee shows the greatest productivity?
*All things being equal, which employee would recover best?
*Is voluntary retirement a possibility?
*Which employee has the best attitude toward the business?
Reasons for firing an employee are as varied as their faces. Even
when the action becomes necessary through no fault of the employee,
both the decision making process and the act of firing are not
pleasant duties. It is, however, no time to let emotions get out
of hand.
More
reasons for firing an employee
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