Quick, Can you say "terminated"?

HR Beginner

We have just terminated an employee for violent behavior in the workplace. A couple employees saw the "explosion", many others did not. To notify all employees about why this employee is gone, is it okay to distribute a memo worded like this:
"We must inform you that Joe Smith was terminated as an agency employee today. As always, please respect our agency confidentiality policy in this, and any other employee matter."

Gillian

You shouldn't. Employees know why he was terminated. It might be a stretch but the employee might use that memo as some sort of defamation issue.

Lori B

I would never send out a message to say I fired someone. It is far easier to just say so and so is no longer employed here....there is no reason to address why.

hrbanker

I hesitate to tell employees that someone was terminated, especially in memo form. I prefer to just say Joe Doe is no longer with the company effective this date. Employees are going to talk among themselves, but it would be good to remind them (maybe in a separate memo or through their department managers) that company business is confidential and not to be discussed with anyone outside the organization.

We had a similar situation with an employee who was let go for a major theft. To our employees' credit, I've not heard a word about it on the street. It's almost a year later and just going to court.

Of course, in both your case and mine, if someone calls for a reference on the terminated employee, you have to be honest and let them know of the violent behavior. Otherwise, if the person is hired elsewhere on your good reference and subsequently hurts someone in a violent outburst, you might be held liable.

Don D

There is absolutely no need to pen a memo of any sort, UNLESS, the employee's absence will materially impact the duties and activities of other departments, say, with one department head being gone suddenly. And, I would hesitate to do it in memo form even then unless I were going to clearly outline bullets of who will be doing what moving forward or in an interim period. Never, would I indicate somebody was terminated. As Gillian says, they knew it right about the time it happened, in real time.