When firing for a firm reason and competitive pressure, you should thoroughly document the economic trends and strategic changes which drive your layoff. The worker will, certainly, claim the "real" reason for her termination was because she took workers' comp, and she'll get an attorney-at-law to sue you. The only way to deal with a bad employee effectively is to let them know immediately there are consequences to their actions. You can also use this meeting to gather insight from separated personnel. More importantly, you must include facts that back up your rationale for dismissing the worker. When terminating for a business reason and competitive pressure, you must thoroughly document the economic trends and strategic changes which drive your layoff.

You should hold the employee accountable in future meetings and performance reviews for the action items in the "appearance" plan. To be clear, the firm is happy with you or your work performance. Therefore, you must discipline and probably go to termination when a jobholder becomes a behavior problem. The main criterion is the employee should have worked for the business at least one consistent year, most often full-time. You must inform everyone you and the management team take sole responsibility for the business's decline and the layoffs. Without strong standards for employee separation, you will find it difficult to layoff the problem worker quickly enough. Why are employee investigations before dismissal so important? This makes a solid case for the lay off, and any lawyer will have a more difficult time finding a loophole in your dismissing program. o References to the lackluster performance or misbehavior. Take only those steps which best benefit both the worker's job satisfaction and your small company' welfare.