{"id":33835,"date":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/what-should-i-take-into-consideration-before-terminating-an.html"},"modified":"2008-03-26T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T21:35:41","slug":"what-should-i-take-into-consideration-before-terminating-an","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/human-resources\/what-should-i-take-into-consideration-before-terminating-an.html","title":{"rendered":"What Should I Take Into Consideration Before Terminating an Employee?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When the personnel department looks at a request for termination, it must fit the questions considered to the circumstances of that particular case. The importance of common sense cannot be overstated. Among the questions that a reviewer should consider are:<\/p>

  1. How long has the employee been with the company?<\/li>
  2. What is the employee's age, sex, and minority group status?<\/li>
  3. Has the employee recently complained about safety or the integrity of company products?<\/li>
  4. Has the employee recently exercised a legal right such as filing an OSHA complaint, filing a workman's compensation claim, or serving on a jury?<\/li>
  5. Are the employee's pension rights due to vest shortly?<\/li>
  6. What reasons for discharge will be stated if litigation occurs?<\/li>
  7. Have the company's disciplinary procedures been followed?<\/li>
  8. Is the employee's improper conduct or failure to respond to corrective suggestions documented?<\/li>
  9. Can the supervisor identify specific tasks or responsibilities that were not properly carried out?<\/li>
  10. Did the employee have fair advance notice of the standards by which his or her performance would be judged?<\/li>
  11. Are there extenuating circumstances that justify a lesser penalty?<\/li>
  12. Have other employees who have engaged in similar conduct been terminated?<\/li>
  13. Do the reasons for discharge adequately match the applicable termination standard?<\/li>
  14. How strong is the evidence of the event that triggered the discharge?<\/li>
  15. How strong are the documentation and other evidence of progressive discipline?<\/li>
  16. Has the reviewer looked at the employee's entire personnel record?<\/li>
  17. Does the employee's prior disciplinary record support termination?<\/li>
  18. Has the reviewer followed the company's own contractual policy and employee handbook procedures regarding discipline and discharge?<\/li>
  19. Has the employee's explanation of the "triggering event" been obtained before making the termination decision?<\/li>
  20. Are both the documentation and the decision to terminate timely?<\/li>
  21. Would a transfer of the employee to a different job or facility or a medical or personal leave of absence alleviate the problem?<\/li>
  22. Should there be a 60-day or other reasonable probationary or warning period?<\/li>
  23. Should there be a final warning?<\/li>
  24. If the reasons for discharge are related to adverse business conditions, what is the evidence the particular employee was or was not selected for discharge (layoff) or a pretext for age, sex, race, or other discriminatory reason?<\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When the personnel department looks at a request for termination, it must fit the questions considered to the circumstances of that particular case. The importance of common sense cannot be overstated. Among the questions that a reviewer should …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":true,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"corporate_categories":[6487,6486],"class_list":["post-33835","corporate","type-corporate","status-publish","hentry","corporate_categories-human-resources__employment-laws","corporate_categories-human-resources"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate\/33835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/corporate"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"corporate_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/corporate_categories?post=33835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}