Of course, if the worker has been sent home due to an illness or injury and has not responded to numerous phone calls, e-mails, and written notifications about returning to work, this is a different case. The worker can't sue you for wrongful separation if you never sacked her. You must clearly define what makes up sexual harassment and include it in your worker handbook. Many times a written reprimand will get the worker's attention in a way that mere words can't. Once you have described in detail the reasons in your notifications of lay off, you can begin to help the employee make this major shift in their life.

o If you're disciplining instead of sacking, you should write the final written warning according to the guidelines of Chapter 6. They will aid you handle problems, communicate with the worker and serve as important legal documentation. To make matters worse, you should know the average award in a wrongful separation trial is $536,927 (according to Jury Verdict Research) and the jobholder wins about 70% of the time (according to Steven Mitchell Sack in Getting Terminated.) Dimissing a jobholder based on emotion rather than sound reasons can result in serious penalties including devastating lawsuits. o How to make your terminations as easy as possible on you and the employee. These are all part of the employee separation notification program. Your Hr department may have a procedure for tracking FMLA leave which you and the employee should use. This notification serves as written notice of separation for [name]. The Perils of Worker termination. Or, if the small business is big enough, you can transfer him and give your insubordinate worker to another supervisor. This section considers 4 questions I often get about dismissals.