Breaking Up is Hard to Do: How to Minimize Risk in Employee Termination

Woods Rogers’ management-side employment lawyers Leah Stiegler and Emily Kendall Chowhan continue their “Employment Law in Focus” series with Today’s General Counsel, discussing the challenges of employee terminations. We’ve all heard the famous line, “It’s not you, it’s me,” in the context of romantic relationships gone sour, but the classic come-back applies in employee terminations, too.

“When an ‘ex-employee’ starts questioning why you ‘broke it off,’ they may even wonder if it was for an unlawful reason,” explain Leah and Emily. “That is what you want to avoid. A risk-averse termination is one based on the employee’s conduct. This usually falls into two categories: misconduct and performance.”

Leah and Emily provide company leaders and HR managers with guidance on addressing misconduct, documenting performance concerns, and protecting the business from employment lawsuits.

“All in all, no breakup is easy — and neither are those in the workplace. You may do everything by the book in an employee termination, but the end is still messy. The best you can do is be prepared for any future defense after an employee’s termination by having documentation showing your effort to set expectations and the employee’s failure to meet them.”

To read Leah and Emily’s column in Today’s General Counsel, click here.