Termination
Betzi
27 Posts
Have a small company in Delaware with 10 employees - 1 position (created January 2001) is a Salesperson and it is not bringing in the revenue we had anticipated. Going to fire employee (offering another alternate position in company, part-time, if he desires)and my question is, is there anything specific we need to offer him? Mentioned he has right file for unemployment benefits in term letter (also that we have right to oppose any benefits) and since less than 20 employees COBRA is not necessary (his health insurance re-ups in February so we will just not renew him at that time). We have never had to let anyone go in 15 years (although some have quit) - just want to make sure all of our ducks are in a row!
Thank you!
Thank you!
Comments
You're smart to line your ducks up before termination -- so many employee lawsuits can be avoided with a little pre-planning.
Employee lawsuits typically fall into 2 categories, those based on discrimination and those based on employment torts (infliction of emotional distress, defamation, etc.) (Of course there are other bases for lawsuits, such as retaliation for exercising a protected right and whistleblower statutes, but they are less common.) To protect yourself against the first type of lawsuit, make sure that you are treating the soon-to-be-terminated employee just like other employees. If you haven't fired other employees for similar performance issues, you need to look carefully to see if the employee is in a protected category and if there are grounds for a claim of discrimination. If so, talk with a lawyer first to make sure your business reason for terminating the employee is rock-solid.
To protect yourself against the second type of lawsuit, be careful how you do the firing -- in private, with a plan designed to control emotions. (I have a terminations "cheat sheet" that talks a bit about the meeting in which you let someone go; my email is [email]CynthiaCalvert@CynthiaCalvert.com[/email] if you want a copy.)
A good way to protect yourself is to ask the employee to sign a severance agreement that contains a release. You'll need to give the employee something other than what he is entitled to in order to make it valid. If the employee is over 40 (for federal law; Delaware law may have a different age cutoff), you'll need to add special language to the agreement. I'm not trying to be an advertisement for the legal profession (okay, maybe I am), but it would be good to have an employment lawyer who is familiar with severance agreements draft the language for you.
Hope this is useful. Best of luck!
>was not his fault. Inability to perform job is not a basis for
>denying UI benifits.
James: I don't think anyone is or ever would attempt to deny a person the right to file a claim for benefits. That certainly isn't being suggested here on The Forum. However, contrary to your suggestion, ineligibility is sometimes ruled by the administrative law judge or referee when a person who has for years been able to perform well, suddenly without suitable explanation, medical or otherwise, cannot or does not or will not perform satisfactorily. It is somewhat rare, but has happened when an ultimate determination is reached that "The claimant is out of work through fault of his own." Don x:-)
Theresa
Human Resources
Studio Vertu, Inc.