Letting an employee go may be fraught with many problems and correlating legalities. Even “at will” employees who understand that they may lose their job at any time may have legal recourse if your reasons for firing an employee are invalid.

Therefore, it is well to review some of the reasons for firing an employee. Some of these include:

*Misbehavior or rudeness toward clients or customers
*Drunkenness or substance abuse on-the-job
*Theft of company property
*Frequent and unexplained absences from work
*Entering false information on records
*Gross insubordination
*Incompetence or failure to respond to training
*Fighting or other physical aggression
*Sexual harassment
*Verbal abuse
*Using company property for personal business

Document Your Reasons for Firing an Employee

In each these cases, the well-informed employer will have clear documentation the employee understood company policy. Also, the employer should document evidence of misconduct and keep it on file with a written summary of the termination. Even when firing an “at will” employee, the manager must exercise care in wording the reasons for the termination. For example, the employer should not claim “downsizing” when he or she plans immediately to hire another employee to perform the same job.

It is not enough merely to suspect that an employee has violated a company policy. The employer should never fire an employee on a whim or out of resentment. Management should remain calm and collected during the entire process. The reasons for firing an employee may be valid, but handling the situation badly can cancel this.

When there are economic reasons for firing an employee, consider several factors. The main question an employer will have is, “Which employee should I terminate?” This can become a sticky situation and there are many aspects to consider:

*Which employees have the greatest longevity of service?
*Which employee shows the greatest productivity?
*All things being equal, which employee would recover best?
*Is voluntary retirement a possibility?
*Which employee has the best attitude toward the business?

Reasons for firing an employee are as varied as their faces. Even when the action becomes necessary through no fault of the employee, both the decision making process and the act of firing are not pleasant duties. It is, however, no time to let emotions get out of hand.

More good reasons for firing an employee