SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: WANT TO FIRE AN EMPLOYEE?

What Are The Key Legal Issues?
Part 2

Silkin Management Group’s article on yesterday’s blog site, which you can link to here http://silkinmanagementgroup.net/silkin-management-group-want-to-fire-an-employee/, discussed 4 key legal issues to look at when you are considering terminating an employee. With hundreds of clients throughout the United States and Canada, Silkin Management Group consultants are frequently working with clients on the handling of employee issues. Termination is certainly the most legally tenuous action you can take with any employee, and one to be as on top of as possible.

We covered 4 key areas in yesterday’s blog at one of our other Silkin Management Group blog sites. They were:

• Do you have an “at will” employment contract?

• Has the employee made complaints about sexual harassment?

• Has the employee made prior complaints about illegal activity in your office

• Is the employee a member of any protected class, thus protected by discrimination laws?

Today, we’d like to cover in a bit more detail, the “at will” concept of an employment agreement. We think this is something all employers, whether Silkin Management Group clients or not, should be educated on.

An “at will” employment agreement means that either the employee or employer can end the working relationship at any time without any reason. This would seem to give you blanket protection from legal attacks from a terminated employee. Don’t be fooled, though, it is not a fool-proof concept. In reality, there are exceptions to the at-will rule and, unless you’ve implemented and followed proper human resource actions, with full and proper documentation, you can still be at risk. In fact, it’s rare that someone terminates an employee for no reason at all – why would you do that? One usually has a reason for termination such as repeated bad behavior, poor production, drug or alcohol use, constant lateness, etc. And, if one of those are the reason for termination, you better have good documentation.

As there are so many “protected classes” of employees these days, any termination puts you at risk of the employee coming back at you for discrimination, sexual harassment, and other legal attack lines. There are plenty of employment attorneys looking for the discrimination case against a doctor or other employer.

Thus, all Silkin Management Group clients are trained on proper human resource administrative best practices to protect themselves from such potential legal mayhem. We’ll cover some of these best practices in future Silkin Management Group blogs. Nothing, though, takes the place of having a good employment attorney at hand to give you exact legal advice.

If you’d like more information about how Silkin Management Group can help you in the management of your practice, contact us at 800-695-0257 or email us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant