Termination

MHarris

We have an employee, a design technician/draftsman, who has notified us he is using a headhunter to find another position out of state. Reasons for doing so are personal in nature and not related to the job. What are our rights in terminating his employment if and when we find someone to fill his position? We cannot afford to be short staffed so we want to start our search now eventhough no official notice has been given. We are an at-will state but that can never be taken at face value. This employee does not belong to any protected class. Please help - or point me in the direction of some good resources. Thanks!

Don D

It is not uncommon for an employer to terminate an employee who they know to be job hunting, especially one who has announced his intentions and told you he has engaged a headhunter. This is just as common as it is to go ahead and 'cut loose' an employee who gives you notice.

ray a

I discovered in NY if an employee gives, say, 2 weeks notice and we let them go immediately upon receipt of their notice, they are treated as if it was a lay off. They are eligible for unemployment.

If your laws are similar to ours, you would have the right to terminate employment, but if the person does not have a new job lined up, they may then collect UI.

Theresa Gegen TX

Everyone belongs to several protected classes. He has a gender, race, and probably religion. But unless you have a contract with him, you should be safe in moving forward, hiring a replacement and terminating him.

Good Luck?

Hatchetman

Why don't you sit down and tlakto him about exactly what his plans are and target dates...and let him know what you;;ll be doing. You can get a time frame for your repacement efforts.

It sounds as if he did the right thing by notifying you that he has to be resigning soon. So, treat him with equal respect and mutally come to a target date for him to resign -- which will allow you to get a replacement by then and him to find an acceptable job. He'll also probably be rquesting some time off to go for job interviews, especially if they're out of the area.

Whirlwind

H-man, I appreciate that you took the perspective that this ee may have been trying to do his employer a courtesy, because that's the way it struck me too. It seems that to terminate a person under these circumstances communicates to other ee's that they would be well-advised to give you as little notice as possible when planning to quit.

Pork

I would suggest you start your search and hire the most qualified person and have both on-board for a short training period. After which you could let the individual know that you will no longer need his services. Unless you have a documented contract with this very special position then I would consider it wise to protect the company from a planned exit with no to little notice. Worse yet giving the individual time to back-up company business on personal diskettes might be the calling of this disloyal employee. i would certainly question his need to depart of what has the company failed to do to keep this special positioned person on-board and happy with the opportunities available to him with your company. You can terminate if there is no implied or signed contract for no reason at all. NY is right, you just have to be prepared to defend your self should the individual decide you did him wrong! Pork

Don D

I don't know about NY UI laws, but in this and many other states, if a person gives notice and the employer cuts him loose and pays out those weeks of notice in the form of salary, the person cannot draw UI. If, on the other hand, the employer cuts him loose and pays him nothing, he DOES qualify for UI, if otherwise eligible.

ray a

Good point, Don. The employee I referred to was a direct, nonexempt employee. We did not pay him for the remaining two weeks. The letter I received from the UI office just stated that employees released prior to their stated resignation date were eligible for IU by virtue of the fact we released them. My only recourse was to prove we did it for cause, which I was unable to do. The guy had an attitude and his supervisor no longer wanted him around. It was assumed his attitude would worsen during the 2 weeks. There were no documented disciplinary actions on file.