What is the real termination date?

Cherrye · April 2004

It is a long standing practice of our payroll department to use the last day the person worked as their temination date. We are a private country club and hire employee seasonal workers on an as needed basis; the decision to terminate may be made six weeks or more after the last day the person actually worked. Which date should be used as the termination date; the last day worked or the date the department head puts on the temination form?

scantey · April 2004

I am assuming these employees are on call when you say that you terminate them 6 weeks after their last day worked. You should always use the last day worked as their termination date if you know they are not coming back. This way it is clean and when they file for unemployment you will have a correct date.

Don D · April 2004

It's largely irrelevant. The Unemployment office will want to know 'last date of employment', not date you actually terminated, since benefits are based on wages and time periods of actual work.

HRQ · April 2004

My payroll person asked about this a few days ago. An employee failed to return to work at the end of her FML. We used the last day worked as her term date in the payroll system, and her term document indicates last day worked AND last day of FML.

Don D · April 2004

That would be problematic if she had insurance claims and the company later discovered you showed her terminated long before the date of medical service. They'd be recovering money from her, or attempting to, and would not be entitled to do so if she actually was insured while out on FML.

HRQ · April 2004

I continue their insurance until they lose eligibility, whether they don't return from FML, stop sending payments while on FML, etc. I key insurance terminations directly into the insurance co's website using the appropriate coverage termination date, so there shouldn't be any problem with the employee's med bills.

Our problem was, how do we reply to employment verifications when they ask for beginning and ending dates of employment? A substitute teacher might be termed because her contact info is no longer valid and we just can't reach her. Sometimes it's because an employee didn't return from FML.

If a substitute teacher has dropped off the face of the earth, should it be their last day worked? Or last day of attempted contact?

If an employee doesn't return from FML, should we give the end date of the leave?

blw · April 2004

I instruct supervisors to use the actual date of termination, not the last day worked. In my mind they are two separate dates. If someone calls in today and says they aren't returning from LOA, today is the day they resigned.

We have a two day, no call - no show, policy that results in voluntary termination. If I used the last day worked as the termination date, we terminated them prior to their violating the policy.

Keep them separate - it is cleaner in my opinion.

ray a · April 2004

I do the same as Blw. We have a 3 day, no report policy resulting in voluntary resignation. I use that 3rd day as the termination date, not last day worked. Technically, they were still our ee's during those three days. Another example, if an ee is on long term disability, they are automatically terminated after 6 months. They may have used their health insurance during that 6 month time period and if we made their last day worked, the termination date, they may be required to repay the insurance benefits they had received.

Leslie · April 2004

Ditto to blw and ray a. I'm constantly having this battle with my payroll department - even with a place on our personnel notice for both last day worked and effective date of notice.

Say the person has hours of paid leave time to use and does so during FML, then doesn't return. If you term on last day worked, essentially you termed then let the employee use vacation and sick time for the next few weeks still on the books. How do you reconcile that?

What is the real termination date?

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