You redesign his job to meet his "wants." For example, when the employee is always late to work, you give him flextime or telecommuting privileges. Satisfactory documentation for gross misbehavior must show you conducted a fair investigation and your termination decision was reasonable. There are several ways to deal with gossip effectively in the workplace. To make matters worse, courts typically favor the employee in these wrongful separation suits. They will inform you to document productivity problems, give chances and then lay off. You must show the employee had a pattern of offensive behavior that you addressed repeatedly with rehabilitative actions. You must make the facts of the firing clear. Wise employers do not lay off personnel without a reason and claim protection under "employment at will". This includes writing notices for workers you terminated for cause and those who were jerks. With the 2 sales professionals, I would've either kept both of them or fired both of them. You should give this manual to each new employee when they join the firm or company. Remember that this individual has a bad attitude to begin with.

When you feel comfortable with the consequences, go ahead and fire the bad worker. Generally, the worker can't sue for more than her back wages from the time of her layoff to the rehire offer. Since the risk of a legal action is higher with a FMLA employee, you must consult your human resources department and your company attorney-at-law.