Reasons to Terminate Employees

Employees can be terminated for the following reasons:

1.) The Employee violated a known company rule/policy that they signed and agreed to follow.

They signed the policy and new that failure to follow such policy would result in disciplinary action, up to and including, immediate termination. You have the signed document in their file and inform them upon violation that they're being released because of their failure to follow company rules and/or policies.

2.) The Employee is not able to perform the job adequately.

You've informed the employee that their performance is not meeting company standards and you've given them an opportunity to improve their behavior.  You gave them resources if they needed it and you gave them an appropriate amount of time to correct their performance based on the severity of the performance issue. They signed a counseling form understanding that they needed to improve their performance or failure to do so would result in disciplinary action, up to and including, immediate termination.

3.) Insubordination.

The employee failed to follow orders even after being warned that they must follow orders / protocol. They should have been warned that they must adhere to / follow your orders / company protocol or they would be terminated for insubordination. If they continue to be insubordinate then you terminate their employment.

4.) The company is reducing is workforce for economic reasons.

As an employer, you have the right to reduce your work force when your business slows down. The key is to make sure that your inform your staff that your letting them go because of the lack of sales / production. Make sure that your layoff doesnt cause a disparate impact on a group of people who fall under a protected EEOC category.

5.) Temp job / assignment has ended.

When you hire people as "temps" to complete work on a temporary basis then their assignment will end as the job is completed. The employee was told up front that theywere working on a temporary assignment. You let them go once the assignment is over. You may have to let them go for one of the reasons listed above before the assignmentends.

When you cannot prove that any of the above are true then you will have failed to follow the law and will be considered to have wrongfully terminated an employee. If they're part of a protected class then you are in real big trouble because you then have the issue of discrimination. Make sure you understand that if the employee you wish to terminate doesn't fall into one of the four categories listed above then it is advised that your contact your lawyer or HR department for guidance.

Contact TrendHR at 214-553-5505 if you find yourself in a situation that you're not sure how to handle. How you terminate your employees is incredibly important because you can easily create hardships for you and your company if you fail to terminate properly.