March 27, 2008
You?ll Know How Much You Spent (Employee Hygiene)
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When you separate employee, it is important to remember that you have other staff members who see how you handle it. Laid off personnel may also need to sign a nondisclosure agreement and will need to return company property. There are various degrees of insubordination, and you must not handle every case of disobedience the same way. With hope of finding my practical method, I reviewed the current separation literature. Normally, any worker, whether a "problem" or not, wants help to improve performance and behavior. We need our employees to listen and respond, without the entitlement disposition or indifference. Second, don't worry about acting like an attorney in the meeting. Wise employers do not separate workers without a reason and claim protection under "employment at will". Therefore if an ex-employee is a cheat, delusional or bitter, she may decide to sue you for improper dismissal. The next best reviewer is the bad worker's hiring supervisor. o Are you terminating the worker for an unlawful, stupid or "no" reason?
Remember if this goes to court as an unfair termination case, some people may interpret strong language as evidence of a personal vendetta, or a simple personality clash between you. Unfortunately it is easy for a terminated at will employee to bring a case against you claiming you had no real ground for termination. To be sure, the jobholder will involve a lawyer. To do this, you will need to coin an employee firing memorandum that details the reason for layoff and the effective date of separation. Since you gave no reason for firing this individual, the jury will have to seriously consider the jobholder's "made-up" reason.