February 3, 2008
California At-Will Employment - The jobholder is "cooking the books.". These contracts
The jobholder is "cooking the books.". These contracts generally have separation clauses which give allowable grounds for layoff and separation benefits. Write it ahead of time and have your legal counsellor or Hr Workforce review it before you ever schedule the termination meeting. You can specify a clause that if a jobholder is separated for certain reasons, than they will not be eligible for any severance benefits. The first recipient, the worker in question, needs a brief account of his or her behavioral problems. Run the report "up the flagpole" through your management chain and Personnel before giving it to the employee. While building the case against the employee, keep Personnel and your boss informed of all significant transgressions by the bad employee. My reading of other employee termination books over the years has been frustrating. One of the first areas of information that you must cover when terminating a worker is papers of all problems on the jobholder's job performance.
Wise employers don't separate workers without a reason and claim protection under "employment at will". Tool #3: "Fill-In-The-Blank" Employment termination Notices. Remember, you, as a manager, are only doing your job. This also leaves room for an employee to file a wrongful employee separation suit when you layoff them for that behavior. Remember if this goes to court as an unfair lay off case, some people may interpret strong language as proof of a personal vendetta, or a simple personality clash between you. Since an executive's lack of productivity over 9 months is costly, escalating discipline is impractical for most companies. This will assist you, and any other boss you hire, protect both your rights as an employer and your employee's rights as a jobholder.