Terminate the Term Letters

“I’m firing one of my employees, Tarzan, later this week and am working on the paperwork. I have a termination letter listing the reasons I’m firing him and will have a final paycheck ready. Have I covered everything?”

My HR Survival Tip

First, get rid of the termination letter. While I do like to make sure the employee understands the reason(s) he’s being fired, I don’t like to put it into writing. Whenever something is in writing, you take a chance it could be used against you if misinterpreted or badly written. Why put yourself in that position?

When an employee terminates for any reason, voluntary or involuntary, I provide exactly the same documents:

• The required Change in Relationship form,
• The required Unemployment Booklet,
• The required HIPP (Health Insurance Premium Payment Program) Notice,
• The final paycheck, including any accrued unused vacation or PTO, and
• The wage statement (formerly known as a pay stub) detailing each and every deduction on the final paycheck.

Hopefully, Tarzan has already been notified more than once of his continuing poor performance, etc. so this isn’t a surprise. Whenever I have an employee truly surprised by a termination, I know the manager didn’t do their job of informing the employee about the seriousness of the problem. Make sure they know their job is on the line.

As a rule, keep your reasons for the termination short, legal and verbal. There’s no reason to go on and on about how badly the employee performed; he’s already being fired, don’t make him feel even worse.