You should also document the behavior of the jobholder including her reaction to the news. This gives you an insurance policy against a suit and in return the workers get attractive severance packages. You must avoid emotional or personal language. You will discover that proper documentation helps protect you from the legal retaliations of former employees.

No matter how carefully you screen new hires or how efficiently you run the firm, you'll dismiss someone at one time or another. Therefore you must know how to layoff an at will employee suitably to limit your legal liability. This is important since you must protect yourself and the small business against potentially costly court battles. These will come back to haunt the fired worker in her illegal lay off case. This protects you in case the former worker charges you and the company with wrongful actions resulting from lay off. o If the accuser's side is weaker than the accused employee's side, then "no wrongdoing.". The best one will show a clear violation of a final written warning or of your gross misbehavior rules. Make sure there are plans to handle separated personnel if they get violent in the layoff meeting, if they decide to charge the executive suite or if they leave the building and decide to return. This will stop an ADEA wrongful dismissal claim. The only exceptions are if the worker has stopped showing up for work or if the jobholder is in a situation where the boss cannot speak with them in person. o Vandalism and destruction of property (business's, coworker's, customer's, supplier's). Your warnings will "memorialize" the incident, explain how the employee should improve and tell her that her job is in jeopardy.