subject: Things To Do To Avoid Facing A Wrongful Termination Case [print this page] A companys success depends on both employers and employees. Employers are required to hire skilled people who will help the company offer quality products or services to people and enable it to have successful business operations.
As an employer, you are obligated to monitor the attendance and work performance of your employees. If one of them failed to meet your expectations or comply with the companys standards, you should take necessary steps to solve the problem.
One of the options that you have in order to maintain the competence of the company is to fire the employee who misbehaved or is not performing well. However, you should be careful when you fire an employee because a wrongful termination case may be filed against you if you violated his rights.
In order to avoid being sued, it is advisable that you do the following before firing an employee:
* Conduct an investigation- If an employee was accused of violating a company policy, you should not immediately fire him. Instead, you can conduct an investigation in order to determine if the allegations against him are true. In addition, you should also ask him if he really committed the violation.
* Study company policies- You should read the personnel manual and employee handbook in order to know the different policies that are being imposed in the company. If the employee violated one of these rules, the manual or handbook may contain the appropriate punishment for such violation. Remember, even if an employee has a poor performance or has misbehaved, it does not mean that you should fire him right away.
* Do not treat him badly compared to other employees- A fired employee can argue that you treated him unfairly so it is better if you will approach him properly. You should also be consistent with your actions. For example, you fired an employee who was often late while suspending another employee who committed the same violation.
* Give initial warnings- You should have warned the employee about his performance and have given him a chance to correct it before you fire him. This way, you will be able to argue that you have done all possible ways to protect him, but he did not do anything to improve his performance.
* Consider other options- If an employee was not able to do his responsibilities, you should first think of other ways to solve the problem without the need to terminate him. You can transfer him to another department if you think his skills will be useful there.
* Consult a Los Angeles employment lawyer - If you are unsure whether firing an employee is the best option for you; it is advisable that you seek legal advice from an expert.
