How to Fire Your Employee:

Next listen to the employee’s concerns and encourage performance improvement. Document that the employee was informed about the policy violation and told what was expected for improvement. Your notes should show that you are giving the employee a chance to improve.

3.) Provide a written warning to the employee. This is the evidence step that you as the employer documented their work performance problem. The written warning should be direct and clear to the point with both their work performance concerns, and correction steps you expect to see from the employee. It is okay to focus on the positives of what the employee can do to maintain their position, but be very clear that with continued policy violation or work performance decreases they will be terminated. Tell the employee that they are on the last step in the company’s disciplinary process. Ask the employee to sign that they received the written warning. Many employees are concerned that by signing the written warning they are agreeing to what it says, so they refuse. Inform them that by signing, they are only acknowledging that they received it. For example, “Sara, this is the company’s written warning statement that we would like you to sign saying that we reviewed it with you. It shows the number of days you were late, and the amount of time you were late for each of those dates. It also shows that, in order to maintain you position and avoid termination, you will need to be on time for the next six weeks, complete a nine month probation period, and not violate any other company policies.”

In completing the verbal and written warning make sure you watch what you say to the employee. Avoid any language that might be interpreted as discrimination by the employee. If you feel that the employee might raise issues of discrimination based on age, race, or sex, have a human resource manager or upper manager in the room as you present the verbal or written warning.

4.) Have a review process before termination. The review process can include another manager, the company owner, or the human resource manager.

5.) Have a short termination meeting. If you have done all the steps correctly, you should not have a surprised employee at this point. Tell the employee why they are being terminated. Believe it or not, I have been told by many angry employees that they do not know why they were terminated. Have two people in the room during termination. Explain to the employee any benefits that the company can offer, such as, offering their last pay check, how long health benefits will last, if they can still access the company’s employee assistance program, and how future job inquires will be handled. Give the employee a company contact person that they can call if they later have concerns or questions about the termination. Have someone walk the employee to gather their personal belongings and escort them off the property. Avoid having security people involved, unless you are dealing with a potentially violent employee. If the employee threatens suicide, involve your employee assistance program or offer to have someone drive the employee to the hospital for an evaluation.

6.) Post Termination: When prospective employers inquire, be careful because bad references may invite a libel suit. Instead, confirm the dates of employment and job title. If the former employee's attorney contacts you regarding a possible wrongful termination suit, and you are worried that your documentation is inadequate, consider offering extra severance pay in exchange for the ex-employee signing a release from legal claims. If the employee is over 40, a new federal law imposes additional requirement on releases. These requirements are: you must give the employee 21 days to decide to sign the waiver, and the release must state that the employee has at least seven days to revoke it after signing. Why follow all the above steps if your State is an “employed at will” State?  For two reasons: 1.) It shows that you as the employer are terminating this employee for a performance problem and not because of their sex, race, age, or any disability. This protects you from losing a wrongful termination lawsuit. 2.) It also avoids having a surprised employee. An employee that feels properly warned and feels that procedures were followed are less likely to start legal action.

How to Fire Your Employer:

If you talk with your supervisor, do not tell him or her that you spoke with human resources or an upper manager. Start the conversation with a positive about how you like them as a supervisor, but there is just one thing you would like them to change. Be specific with your supervisor about what the behavior is that is offensive, and ask them to stop that behavior. End the conversation with a positive statement about how you like them as a supervisor. If your supervisor’s inappropriate behavior does not stop, take your documentation along with some other employees and your witnesses to upper management or your company’s human resource department. Specifically ask the company to complete a fact finding investigation, and have them assign you to a new supervisor until the completion of the investigation.

2.) Fortunately most supervisors are not inappropriate with their behavior, but a lot of supervisors can still drive you crazy with their behavior. Some supervisors are highly detailed, others cannot get organized enough to get anything done, some are too authoritarian and need everything done their way, others are too opinionated and are know-it-alls. Assume your supervisor thinks that just because you are not acting like them, you are not performing as well as you can. What can you do? You can divorce your supervisor’s opinion of you, so it does not destroy your self-esteem. That is easier said then done though because we are all taught from a young age, that a superior’s opinion of us is what really matters; for example, your parents, teachers, or coaches. After we have learned this message we all attempt to please our superiors in hopes that they will like us and therefore think positively of us. But what can we do, when we are doing great work, but our supervisor still does not like us? “Call them a Jerk!” Yes, you can do that, but being angry will not solve your problem. A more effective strategy is to divorce your supervisor’s opinion of you.

Divorce their opinion of me? Just because your supervisor is in a higher position than you it does not make their opinion of you correct, and an incorrect opinion of you does not need to make you angry or sad. The first step in doing this is to make sure you are right by talking over the situation with a few coworkers or friends. Coworkers would probably be the best because they know your supervisor. After you can get a few people to agree with you that your supervisor is the one with the problem, have a meeting with your supervisor and explain to them that because you are different people you have different work styles, but it is your goal to make the styles compatible. After you talk about your different styles, see if they are willing to agree that both styles are acceptable even though different. Unfortunately, talking with your difficult supervisor probably might not work, but its worth a shot and it will really convince you that you need to divorce them.

After it does not work, it’s time to divorce him or her. Come in the next day to work and say to yourself, no matter what criticism my supervisor says, “I’m not going to let it get to me.” Remember when you were a kid and you said, “I am rubber and you are glue, whatever you say will bounce off me and stick to you.” That’s the idea! When you start to divorce yourself from their opinion, you can get out of the holds of anger, frustration, and sadness to free up the creative you for new responses.

1.) You can start to predict what they are going to say and say it first.

2.) You can use humor to show how you are no longer harmed by their little nasty remarks.

3.) You are freer to use the truth as your best defense in turning around those little nasty remarks.

4.) You can reverse the tide by giving them positive remarks even though they just cut you down.

When a supervisor realizes that they are not having the usual effect on you, they quit. The not so bright ones take a longer time to quit. Once they have stopped, you and your supervisor are in a new position to hammer out and develop a new working relationship.

Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided in general terms and is not meant to apply to your particular situation or be legally current at the time you read it. The information on this site is not intended to serve as a replacement for professional legal advice or psychological counseling. The author specifically disclaims any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or application of any information contained on this web site. The appropriate professional should be consulted regarding your specific condition. Employer-Employee.com does not take responsibility for the information posted on other sites to which it links.