Employment Termination Procedures and Policies

Workplace environment

The termination and hiring process can be devastating for both the employer and the employee. In the majority of the cases, the employer firing their employee is often anxious before presenting their employee with the termination letters. Essentially, we can assume that there is plenty of stress before the management finally decides to fire a worker. Apart from the emotional pressure on both the owner of the organization and the employee, there are legal ramifications involved during the termination process. The role of this article, therefore, will be to outline ways through which an organization can deal with employees problems such as termination and hiring and guarantee that the company does not run into long-term problems in the long run. Indeed, whether the company is firing an employee because of their work performance, ethical issues, or other economic factors, there are proper procedures that the organization should follow to avoid the legal problems. Indeed, the organization should also take to regard specific hiring procedures during the hiring process.

Hiring

In coming up with a good hiring process, the organization and the top management should first come up with a well-tailored job description. In the job description, it should consist of a summary of the job, the functions of the position, the attributes desired by the position, the reporting component, the company evaluation criteria, and the mode of compensation (Minor, 2018). In addition to these components, there are specific legal considerations while drafting the job descriptions as turned-away job applicant can challenge the company as such specificity is needed in describing the position and the ideal candidate. Second, during hiring, there should be application and interview questions. The purpose of this process is to obtain the requisite information from the candidates thus allowing the applicant that best suits the organization. Therefore, the employer should not ask questions which elicit information that cannot be used legally during the hiring process. For instance, it is illegal to hire based on the race of the candidate (Minor, 2018). Third, the employer should also conduct background checks as there are specific state laws which require the employer to exercise ordinary care not to hire or retain an employee that poses a risk or harm to others. While some applicants do not mind about background investigations, others become uncomfortable with the idea of investigators checking their personal history (Hall, 2009). Legally, the employer can investigate an employee up to the point where the investigation becomes an invasion of privacy.

Employee Termination

In the United States of America, there is the presence of the employment at will laws, which means without an employment contract, an employer can terminate the employee’s employment at any time without reasons so long as it is not an illegal reason such as discrimination (Minor, 2018). However, with the prevalence in federal and state laws favoring employees, the right of the employer to fire their employee is becoming more and more restricted (“Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). Indeed, the workers that feel they were unjustly discharged off their duties can file many employment-related cases. As a result, for an employer to avoid such legal suits resulting from a disregard of the prevailing laws, is by preventing them in the first place. Whatever the reasons are for terminating their employees, the employer should follow the proper termination procedures, and this can go a long way in diffusing the anger of the disgruntled employee who might in most cases vent this anger in the courtroom (Minor, 2018). Evidently, the majority of these rules also make it possible for the employer to come up with a defense that there were reasonable grounds when terminating the employee.

Rules and Procedures

There are a number of steps which an employer should take to regard before terminating their employee because of insubordination, misconduct, or because of poor performance at work. Such steps include documenting the problem that the worker is involved in, using fair rules and procedures, and investigating the last straw event thoroughly (”Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). For instance, the employer should be bound by some specific non-written laws that they should never fire their employee on the spot. In such cases, acting out of anger is a good way that the employer can find themselves facing legal suits. If the worker does something terrible that might require immediate action, the employee can opt to suspend them immediately and set the groundwork for investigation (”Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). The most convincing way for an employee to fire an employee is from a legal standpoint by proving that there do not exist discriminatory claims and the employer have enough documentation to prove the employee\u2019s actions. Of importance, is ensuring that the documentation is made within the normal course of business as the court and employee are likely to perceive the firing as fair if the employee had plenty of notice of the conduct expected of them during their employment (”Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). As a result, the ability of the employer to fire their employee depends on the rules laid out by the employer from the day of hiring.

First, the organization should establish fair working rules and policies. The employer should let the employee know about the expectations at the workplace (”Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). Second, the employer should enforce this rules fairly using progressive disciplinary measures when necessary. For legal purposes, the employer must employ this rules reasonably to all employees. Third, the employer should come up with a feedback mechanism, which allows the employees to know about their progress at work. Disciplinary actions against those employees that do not violate the rules are not valid (”Employee Termination Procedures & Policies,” 2018). However, the redundant, incompetent, and non-performing workers should receive corresponding disciplinary measures. Lastly, the organization should put measures in place that investigates the last straw effectively. Prior to coming up with a decision to fire their employee because of a specific action, the employer should take as much time as possible to carry out investigations. After the inquiry, the employer can find that there is no need of firing the employee as in most cases the investigations take only some few hours.

Conclusion

From the above analysis, there are various rules and procedures that an organization should follow when hiring and firing their employees. During the hiring process, the management should take regard of all the employee rights and desist from undue discrimination. Further, when terminating the employee, there is the need to conduct the worker\u2019s performance before going through firing-hiring process unless the employee committed acts that provided grounds for their immediate termination.

References

Employee Termination Procedures & Policies. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/research-topics/office-hr/using-proper-employee-termination-procedures

Hall, A. (2009). Legal Issues in Human Resources Management. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/academicinitiatives/universities/teachingresources/Documents/09-0185-LegalIssuesinHRM-IM-FNL.pdf

Minor, M. (2018). Legal Considerations When hiring & Firing library Employees. Retrieved from https://www.georgialibraries.org/dir_mtg/12_2015/docs/legal-considerations-when-hiring-and-firing-employees-minor.pdf