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You're Fired
Statistics reveal that approximately four out of every one hundred workers are fired or resign from their jobs each month, and an estimated one million workers are fired from their jobs each year (U.S. Department of Labor, 2008). Many people who are fired are done so unlawfully. When a company terminates an employee unlawfully, it can create astronomical financial burdens from lawsuits filed by these employees. In today’s society, employees have many rights and are protected by laws. Managers must understand these laws in order to protect themselves and their companies from such lawsuits. Everyday managers are faced with that dreadful task of firing an employee and that question on their mind prior to doing it is probably, “Am I doing this the legal way and will anything come back to haunt me at a later date?”
Managers must understand all state and federal laws that pertain to lawful termination and employee rights, the way they do this is by reading company policies and researching all the laws that cover these areas and there are many out there. In order to have a better understanding of how to legally fire someone, you must first understand what “employment-at-will” means and what the exceptions to it are. The basic form of the employee and employer relationship in the private sector is employment at will. Employment at will happens when the length of the employment is not for a specific time and there is no written contract. During the time of employment, the employee or the employer can end the relationship for any reason with five exceptions, which will support a wrongful termination. The first exception is a contractual relationship; it exists when employers and employees have a legal agreement regarding how employee problems are dealt with. In this type situation, a discharge may occur only if it is based on just cause. The second exception is statutory consideration; simply put the law is on the employee’s side and is there to...