Second, as we discussed in Chapters 2 and 3, a laid off employee will often sue you even when sacked for legitimate reasons. This assumes you have solid proof showing the reason you are sacking her (and the reason can't be she is pregnant.) Since you can terminate a worker for his first incident of gross misbehavior, you must conduct a thorough investigation and reach a reasonable conclusion about what happened. Take only those steps which best benefit both the employee's job satisfaction and the small business' welfare. The rank-and-file will fear for the well-being of their sacked friends. o From talking to the accuser and the accused employee, is it likely the worker had overwhelming misbehavior? This will break the chain of good performance appraisals which the jobholder could use against you in court. When the worker's conduct would damage performance or lead to general mutiny, it must be dealt with as gross misconduct. Otherwise, you're sending the wrong signal. o With a low-risk termination, you only offer your standard severance (if any) and you don't ask for a release. Your tone in a oral notice should be "helpful" not "threatening." For example, you should say, "With these corrective actions, I'm sure your productivity will improve." This is better than, "If you don't make these corrections in your behavior, you'll force me to evaluate your 'fit' with the company.". This is much better than an ad hoc meeting where you might spout off whatever is at the top of mind.

o Does the papers show obviously this termination isn't retaliation for whistle-blowing, a harassment complaint or filing of an employment action? The worker's attorney will have difficulty arguing this manager was prejudice since he hired the worker. The Basics Of Writing An employee dismissal Notification. The ex-worker will be as mad as a hornet for not getting a reason for her layoff.