Employee Termination
All the Rules of Termination
Termination is a tricky business
Getting fired is difficult, for both the employee and company. In addition to emotions running high, there are several factors at play, both legal and ethical.
If you’re a business in the state of Georgia, and you need help figuring out how to separate from an employee the proper way, contact us today.
Employee termination at a glance
How to terminate employment
- Get a termination template to see how other established companies oversee termination of the contract of their employees. You can use this template to write your own termination letter
- Ensure that the termination of employment is completely legal in order to avoid being sued by the employee.
- Set up a meeting with the employee where the termination letter will be presented in a formal and polite manner. Make sure the meeting is done in private
- Your termination reasons must be presented to the employee in a detailed and documented manner highlighting why the employment is being terminated
- There are certain termination rights that the dismissed or laid-off employee is attached to benefit from as stipulated by public policy and employment letter. These rights should include final pay package and benefits
- During employee termination, there is need for you to notify other employees so as to make necessary adjustment that will take care of the position left by the employee. Recruitment could be necessitated by termination of an employee’s contract.
Exemptions of termination
There are termination rules that must be considered before terminating the contract of any employee so as not to go against public policies or rules. Therefore, here are certain exceptions to employee termination:
- Termination of employment must never done as a result of discrimination on the basis of sex, age, nationality, race, social status, origins, disability that has no effect of discharge of duty and religion.
- Employee termination must not contradict the basis of termination written in employment contract.
- Termination reasons must not be against generally outlined and acceptable public policies.
Reasons for termination
Layoffs
In this case, termination occurs as a result of lack of budgetary capacity of the company or shortage of work to do. Here, the fault of employee termination does not come from the employee but it rather lies in the incapability of the employers. Notably, layoff can be temporary in some cases.
Violation of policy of the company
Employment of an employee can be terminated when the employee violates the policies of the company. Since the employee has gone against what is expected from him or her by the employers, termination of employment is the best way to settle the differences.
Poor performance
Separation letter can also be given to an employee when he or she fails to fulfill job obligation as indicated in the employment letter.
Before terminating the employment of an employee, employers must consider if there is a contract of employment in place as it would demand consideration for legal proceedings. However, when there is no contract of employment, employers can terminate employment without any consideration for legal proceedings.
Please contact us at EC3 if you are stuck on firing an employee in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
