To promote goodwill toward you and your business and/or to avoid the threat of legal action against you when you fire an employee, you may want consider the following types of agreements:

• Releases. Know how to use employee releases when you lack the proper documentation to end an employment relationship without avoiding the possibility of a lawsuit.
• Severance agreements. While you are generally not required to offer severance payments or benefits to fired employees, there are circumstances when you will have a strong incentive to do so.
• Noncompete agreements. When is it appropriate to include a noncompete clause in a severance agreement?

Copyright 2006, CCH INCORPORATED. All Rights Reserved.