Termination

Once you have employees, an inevitable part of your relationship with them is that the relationship will end. Whether this happens because they quit, or you lay them off or fire them, it will happen. Terminating an employee opens up a whole new category of responsibilities and pitfalls that you, as an employer, must be familiar with. This portion of the Employment Regulations guide provides you with what you need to know when you get to the end of your relationship with an employee:

Reasons for firing. The variety of reasons why you might fire an employee, including poor performance, misconduct, and downsizing; how to handle voluntary and prompted resignations; and the importance of documenting reasons for firing.
Restrictions against firing. The restrictions on your right to fire employees, including discriminatory firing, retaliation against employees for exercising protected rights, retaliation against whistleblowers, bad faith employment practices, and public policy.
Firing in haste or anger. How to do damage control if you fire an employee in haste or anger to avoid reprisals from your actions.
The termination process. The process to observe if you fire an employee, including following proper termination procedures, and conducting a termination meeting and an exit interview.
Agreements between employers and fired employees. The agreements that can benefit both employers and ex-employees include releases, severance agreements, and noncompete agreements.
Ending your relationship with your ex-employees. The issues you will have to deal with when an employee is terminated include properly providing the employee with his or her final wages, determining whether or not you have to pay an ex-employee for accrued vacation, determining which benefits you are legally obligated to provide, understanding which ex-employees may be eligible for unemployment compensation, determining whether you are subject to COBRA, providing employment verification and references, and disputing unemployment compensation claims.
Recordkeeping compliance for ex-employees. The records you are required to keep with respect to former employees and the length of time you must keep them.
Former employees and legal claims. The various legal claims ex-employees can make against you, including implied employment contracts, wrongful termination (inappropriate dismissal), unemployment compensation claims, and defamation.