Even "at will" employees who understand that they may lose their job at any time may have legal recourse if your reasons for dismissing a jobholder are invalid. If your small company's securities trade publicly and the terminated worker was an officer or director of the firm, you should tell the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For example, if the worker is on notice for excessive personal phone use and he ignores the warnings, you'll probably dismiss him within 1 1/2 weeks. A key determinant of risk levels is satisfactory papers. As you may recall from Chapter 4, a high-risk separation is one where the jobholder will sue for illegal dismissal (if you dismiss him) and he'll win in a court trial. * Job titles which you'll layoff. Concerns About Giving References. However, you can't dismiss for the first incidence of misbehavior.

If the employee performs improper acts, is violent or jeopardizes the safety of other personnel, you have the right to terminate them immediately. First, it is important to understand that under no circumstances should you must approach a lay off when you or the jobholder are too emotional to continue rationally. First, when you're separating for gross misbehavior, you should terminate the day after the 3-day suspension whether this is Friday or not. Remember when discussing the situation with a jobholder to continue to reiterate why it is important that they don't behave in this way. An exit interview form should contain several questions that allow you to gain a better understanding of why the worker is leaving as well as collect any comments they are willing to give you about the work environment. For example, suppose you terminate someone for theft after a proper examination and review of the evidence. Although this is a substantial factor, it's more important for you to know how to terminate appropriately.