5 Reminders for Avoiding Wrongful Termination

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Terminating an employee can be an awkward (and stressful) task. But, as a business owner you’ve got more important things to worry about: compliance.

As if the need to terminate someone wasn’t a difficult enough situation in itself, a wrongful termination claim can quickly take things from bad to worse…a lot worse!

We remind all employers to run down the following checklist before pursuing termination:

  1. Documentation: Do you have the proper documentation to support your credibility and the need for termination? All past incidents, behavioral issues, and performance issues should be documented within the employee’s file.
  2. Warnings: So, you’ve documented incidents – does your employee know that these incidents were documented? Were they given a verbal or written warning prior to termination? Even if it was a verbal warning, the details of the verbal warning need to be documented.
  3. Private Room: The termination meeting should be scheduled in a room or private area separate from other employees. This will help avoid drawing the attention of other employees and will reduce the likelihood of interruption, but more importantly it will not risk creating a situation where the employee leaves feeling ashamed, mistreated, or embarrassed in front of co-workers. In addition to securing a private location, scheduling a termination meeting at the end of the day will ensure that the employee does not need to pack up their things and exit in front of others.
  4. Witness: Never terminate someone on your own. Always have another person from HR or management accompany you. This will eliminate any issues that may arise concerning his or her word against yours.
  5. Consistency: Have you fired someone in the past for this particular reason? Have you been consistent in enforcing the “rules” outlined within your employee handbook? You cannot fire one employee and keep another one on staff that has violated the same rule(s).

For more information on hiring and firing, visit our hiring and firing section within this blog. If you have any questions, contact us directly at Employer Solutions Plus!