Employment Termination

When an Employee Leaves

Essential steps to take after an employee quits or is fired.

What to Say When You Fire an Employee

The only thing harder than deciding to fire an employee is actually breaking the bad news. Indeed, firing an employee face-to-face is one of the most ...

Unemployment Benefits: Contesting an Employee's Claim

Not everyone who's out of work is entitled to unemployment benefits. There are a couple of factors that dictate whether a former employee will receive...

Should You Offer Severance Pay?

Some employers assume that they have to offer a severance package -- a combination of money and continuing benefits -- to fired employees. In many cas...

Should I Fire an Employee?

How to decide whether it's time to let an employee go.

Punishing Whistleblowers Can Lead to Trouble

State and federal laws -- including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 -- protect whistleblowers from retaliation by their employers. If you take discipli...

Making Layoff Decisions

The recent economic downturn has led some companies to consider layoffs. Laying off workers is one of the toughest tasks managers face. And because of...

Illegal Reasons for Firing Employees

Both state and federal law forbid you from using certain reasons to fire an employee. These include illegal discrimination, retaliation against an emp...

How to Conduct a Layoff

Layoffs are painful and stressful for everyone, employers and employees alike. If your company has decided that layoffs are necessary, you can make th...

Giving References for Former Employees

Whenever one of your employees leaves, you will have to decide what to say to other employers who call for a reference. The decision is pretty straigh...

Firing Employees With Employment Contracts

Chart: Final Paychecks for Departing Employees

Most states require employers to give departing employees their final paychecks in fairly short order -- sometimes on their last day of work. In some ...