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.
When
should you fire employee?
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