In any workplace environment, it is important for both the boss and the employee to understand the manager's rights. If the worker is harassing other personnel, for example, a court can find you guilty of failing to discipline the jobholder for his or her actions. I hold harmless all third parties giving information about me from any claims, demands, judgments and legal fees arising out of this reference check. I call this a negotiated layoff.

In these cases, simply have a third-party present at all of your meetings with the employee. Just thinking of terminating that individual and placing an extra load on her or him can be bothersome, even if you know the jobholder should be fired. Also you should have policies on the lay off process and conditions for a layoff. Because the standard layoff approach was so flawed, I developed the firing Risk Estimate & Protection System(tm) (TREPS). After you have created your layoff letters, call a meeting with all of your workers and let them know about the lay off. And in big public companies, executives often get up to 2 years pay and, now and then, up to 5 years with a golden parachute. If your rules are legally sound, you can dismiss workers on the spot for employment gross misconduct. It doesn't matter how many witnesses saw the bad worker receive your verbal warnings, you'll lose without documentation. How to Deal with Alcohol Abuse in the Workplace. Let the employee know what criteria was used in making your decision and make sure that criteria was used uniformly. You should have documented proof before you ever consider job termination. Before you separate anyone, you should determine the chance the jobholder will sue you.