Employee Terminations: Doing It Right
Employee Terminations: Doing It Right
The toughest job for most managers is terminating a colleague.
From the legal perspective, the challenge is to minimize the organization’s legal exposure and conduct the termination meeting in a way that will maximize the prospect that the terminated employee will quickly move on to alternative employment.
For each employee termination, there are legal and human resource questions to answer. A bungled termination can be very expensive. The way a termination is conducted can significantly add to the cost of an employee termination.
On the legal side, here are some of the questions that need to be answered: Is there “just cause” for termination? If not, should the employee receive working notice of termination or termination pay instead of this notice? How much termination pay should the employee receive? How long should employee benefits be continued? Should the employee be offered a reference letter?
On the human resource side: Who will attend the termination meeting? What will be said at this meeting? What happens if the employee gets really upset or angry at this meeting? How and when does the employee return Company property? How and when is the news of the termination communicated to staff and clients? Should an outplacement counsellor be retained?
Each employee termination is different.
The MacLeod Law Firm is partnering with Lotte Struwing of Lasting Solutions: HR Consulting and Coaching to offer a three hour seminar to employers on employee terminations on February 12, 2014 in Barrie, Ontario.
To register, click here http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e8rrg7zg591fa8ec&llr=xoo86bdab
If you have a question about an employee termination, please contact our Managing Partner, Doug MacLeod at 416 317-9894 or [email protected]
The material and information in this blog and this website are for general information only. They should not be relied on as legal advice or opinion. The authors make no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of any information referred to in this blog or its links. No person should act or refrain from acting in reliance on any information found on this website or blog. Readers should obtain appropriate professional advice from a lawyer duly licensed in the relevant jurisdiction. These materials do not create a lawyer-client relationship between you and any of the authors or the MacLeod Law Firm.
Recent Posts
The end of IDEL ( i.e. COVID layoffs) under the Employment Standard Act: The Great Reckoning
Some employers have benefitted from COVID and others have not. The federal government has supported the “have not” employers with a 75% wage subsidy. But it is scheduled to come to an end in September. So I have been getting calls from employers who cannot maintain...
Court says $ 2.5M payroll is not limited to Ontario Payroll for Severance Pay Purposes
An employee with 5 years service is entitled to one week severance pay for each year of service to a maximum of 26 weeks severance pay under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) IF the employer’s payroll exceeds $ 2.5M. In 2014, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice...
Is a Temporary Layoff under the ESA a termination at common law?
Temporary layoffs deemed not to be termination during the COVID pandemic.