April 13, 2010
Use discretion when you opt to lay off (Sample Termination Letter)
Use discretion when you opt to lay off someone in the middle of the workweek. What to say when terminating a jobholder carries with it the need to know what to say to the other workers. The court will rule his complaint isn't with you but with the other personnel. o Does the jobholder have a contract (verbal or written) and is the supervisor sacking only for reasons stated in the contract? o Are you firing the employee for an wrongful, stupid or "no" reason? Most importantly, you need to know the worker's emotional state. When an employee is no longer connected to the firm, he's more probably to inform the whole truth about what's going on. To keep yourself out of jail, you shouldn't call up everyone in your industry even if your ex-employee has screwed you and your business over. Your lay off risk for the older employee will always be at least medium level. Your worker will likely sue you for wrongful layoff if you answer yes to one or more of these questions. o The laid off worker needs to work "the system" and make money off his lay off. You must only gather physical substantiation if it belongs to the business or no one (like the empty beer bottle) and you have unrestricted access to it.
With this extra knowledge, you'll become a more trusted firm partner and upper management can rely on you to keep the company's lay off costs as low as possible. Seldom is the "real" reason for the firing an unlawful one. The termination should typically occur within a week of the triggering incident.