Tips for Firing Employees

Being an employer can be a wonderfully enriching experience. However, there is one aspect of being a boss that few, if any employers relish: firing an employee. Firing employees can be particularly difficult where an employer has developed a personal relationship with an employee or where an employee has served a company for a number of years. Here are some tips to consider when firing any employee.

• The law in each state varies as to when an employee can be fired. Know the law in your state before you decide to fire an employee.
  
  
• Do not be vindictive. You can get into serious trouble if you fire an employee for informing authorities that you are violating laws designed to protect workers' rights and safety. The ramifications of running afoul of a "whistleblower" statute are far greater than the cost to you of having to retain, and maintain a relation with, an employee who accuses you of wrongdoing.
  
  
• Do not get personal. No matter how much you may, on a private level, dislike a particular race or group of individuals; do not let those feelings cloud your business judgment. If you fire someone for the sole reason that they are Jewish, homosexual, female, or many other personal reasons, your actions are illegal. Do not allow your personal feelings to provide a basis for an employment discrimination lawsuit.
  
  
• Maintain documentation of the employee's performance reviews. Keep copies of all negative reports or warnings you have issued to the employee. Clear and consistent documentation provides support for your decision when informing the employee and protection from possible litigation. If litigation does arise, your case will be much stronger if you can show that on more than one occasion you issued the employee a written warning that his or her job performance or attitude was sub-par.

  Note: If you have written policies regarding poor performance reviews or policies concerning employee discipline procedures for insubordination or improper conduct, make sure that you have followed them to the letter before you try to fire an employee for those reasons.

• Determine who is on a need-to-know basis and tell only those individuals that an employee is going to be fired. Ask that those individuals keep the information confidential. No one deserves to hear through the grapevine that his or her days at your business are numbered.
  
  
• Consider all legal requirements with which you must comply, and do not fail to fulfill them. For example, if the employee is due compensation or commissions, have those figures calculated before you meet with him or her to discuss the termination. It is advisable to know in advance is the total amount owed to the employee. Have all documents, such as severance offers that require a written acknowledgment, thoroughly reviewed and available at the meeting.
  
  
• Arrange for any necessary parties to be present at the meeting. If you want to have the employee's supervisor available to back up your position regarding why an employee should be fired, consider having that supervisor present for all, or a portion of the meeting. Consider whether you need to have your human resource representative available to explain rights that the employee has to continuation of health insurance coverage, pension benefits, or other similar matters. If so, your human resources representative should be present for the meeting. It would be extremely disruptive to the firing process, and would prolong it unnecessarily if, in the middle of the meeting, you had to pause to bring a supervisor or HR representative to your office.
  
  
• Arrange for your meeting with the employee to be in a private place. It is likely that the process of being fired will be upsetting or embarrassing enough without having the whole office watch through the glass wall of the conference room.
  
  
• Be frank with your reasons for firing the employee. Do not say, "Well, I think you are making a good effort but it just doesn't seem like I am seeing the results I need." A statement like this will only give the employee false hope that he might have a second chance and may provide fodder for a subsequent lawsuit if he feels like you weren't telling him the real reasons he was being fired. Additionally, by giving concrete reasons for the termination, the employee can feel a sense of empowerment and be aware of performance areas in which he or she needs improvement.
  
  
• Ask for the employee's keys or access cards to the building. If the employee is calm and collected it will likely not be harmful to allow him or her to collect personal items and say goodbye to co-workers. However, if you feel that the terminated employee may be disruptive, or may harm other individuals, escort the employee to his or her desk or work station and escort the employee safely from the building. If you are concerned that the employee may come back to the building to cause trouble, alert the building security or change the locks and access codes to ensure he or she can no longer gain entrance. It is important to remember that your employees' and business's safety should be your top priority.
  
  
• Once the hard task of firing an employee is over, your work is not done. Take care not to disparage the employee in front of his or her former co-workers. This sort of behavior will rarely be perceived as professional and can be a serious deterrent to employee morale, particularly if the employee was well liked by co-workers.

To discuss your legal concerns regarding terminating an employee, contact an employment lawyer in your area. An attorney with experience advising employers regarding termination of employees can provide legal guidelines and additional resources specifically tailored to your situation.

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