However the jobholder gross misconduct occurs, you should be confident in your approach and prepared to deal with it. As a boss if you failed to document the employee's terrible performance or behavioral problems, you are leaving yourself and your small company open to a suit. To get your extra severance benefits, I must get a signed copy of this memorandum within 21 days. It sounds like a "sigh" or a "humph" when you say something she doesn't agree with. If you take the time to collect this information before you lay off a worker, it will make the firing go more smoothly and prevent legal problems later. If you manage a business of any size, you shouldn't terminate someone for an improper reason whenever possible. And they'll react the same way as a regular employee to firing for "no reason." Even if your employee handbook or collective bargaining agreement says you can separate a probationary jobholder for any reason, be sure an opportunistic legal counsellor will take her case. Clearly, the jobholder should sign the jobholder termination agreement. In such cases you are not handling difficult employees; you are handling difficult situations. Low And Medium Risk Lay off Checklist (Cont'd.) Rarely is an employee ever fired on the spot unless that individual is a threat to the safety of other workers or involved in criminal activity.

Armed with your documentation and your worker layoff later, you should then sit down with the worker and outline the grounds for the termination. In Tool #5 of the jobholder Lay off Toolkit (at the end of this book), I give you some sample questions for a "resignation" exit interview. Finally with lay offs, you inform your workers about the firm's poor financial condition several weeks before the firing. (See Chapter 3 for a list of legitimate company desires.) However, for most office workers, this isn't going to be a problem when you had IT impound her computer and turn off passwords.