Maria cursed out her male supervisor in Spanish and English in front of 6 coworkers. Something as simple as a certificate of appreciation costs the firm little, nothing more than the price of stationery and copies. When separating such a worker, you should know how to handle anything he or she may try. There are many myths that could be discussed about handling difficult employees but in truth they all boil down to the idea that separating a difficult individual means an automatic settlement in a court of law.

You may choose a recorded reprimand letter or a letter that is a little less recorded yet informative to the employee. These "honest" mistakes and misstatements are unacceptable, and you should put the jobholder into progressive discipline. The jobholder lay off notice should succinctly identify the problems with the current employee, if the action has resulted from misbehavior. My advice is you should continue with a high-risk termination only as a final alternative. Remember your goal is to eliminate waste and refocus on profit making company areas. To give small business owners and Personnel managers an idea of how to handle insubordination, you should consider a wide range of examples. This is just a small random sample of the wrongful separation awards in my files. Whether you choose to share your predetermined remedial action with your personnel or not, planning your response to disobedience in workplace environments has two major benefits. You may feel uncomfortable dealing with an difficult worker. This will then let you use anything you find on the computer as proof in a legal action. This will show other employees that such behavior is not acceptable. Only in this way can you continue to employ those personnel that remain with the business.