Continuing employee hygiene problem? Here's the next step

November 27, 2011

Firing An Employee - 1) Tell the worker immediately you have not

Why a bad employee is causing more problems than you think

1) Tell the worker immediately you have not found enough proof to layoff for gross misbehavior. If progressive discipline including oral and written warning cannot resolve the problems with an employee, it becomes necessary to separate them. If the dollar value isn't too high, you might consider just letting the employee keep the firm property. If you are an employer or a business manager, you'll eventually have to lay off a worker for cause. (To be safe, you must just read the layoff letter and stay away from offhand comments.) I suggest the employee's boss does the lay off, unless you're also terminating this supervisor. Admittedly, it'll be stressful for you and the jobholder, but you just go through the motions. For a medium risk dismissal, you can dismiss immediately, but you have increased legal exposure. Before starting down the path of job termination, consider the following: And she didn't flinch when he asked why. Getting a sample employment termination memorandum and using it to create your own document is a wise move when you must lay off a worker. Don't give a false reason to soften the blow, such as the "company is down, we just have to let you go," when the real reason is poor job performance with three written warnings as proof.

In your layoff notification sample, these details won't exist. For example, when you sacked him for a productivity problem or laid him off as a cost cutting move, the commission always favors the separated employee. An alternate case of medium risk lay off is when the employee is unlikely to sue, but you have little evidence justifying a legitimate firing.

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Why a bad employee is causing more problems than you think