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How To Fire An Employee
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Article 2: Good Policies Prevent Problems
“Good business practices and avoiding lawsuits go hand in hand,” declares Lisa Guerin, an employment law attorney with Berkeley, Calif.-based Nolo, which publishes legal self-help books.
That means developing a company policy manual even before hiring your first employee. It means establishing definitive procedures that let everyone know just what will happen when policies are breached. And it means applying those standards uniformly to both favored and unpopular employees.
“The No. 1 issue that any small business has to deal with is not having a company policy manual,” says Gene Fairbrother, ShopTalk consultant for the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE). “They haven’t properly communicated the rules to employees. They think it’s just for the big guys, but it’s one of the most valuable management tools you can have. You really need it.”
Get your company’s policy manual vetted by an employment law attorney to ensure it doesn’t contain things that can bite you later – such as stating that employees can count on a long career with your company.
Make sure each new employee not only gets the manual, but also signs for its receipt.
“Once they sign for it, it’s presumed they have read it, whether they do or not,” notes Ron Miller, a senior attorney in labor and employment law at Chicago-area legal publisher CCH.
You might think you can’t afford all this extra effort when it’s all you can do to keep up with regular business demands. But the experts say you can’t afford not to.
Small-business owners are “so entrepreneurial in outlook that they aren’t thinking about employee relations,” Miller says.
Yet anyone can sue about anything, and if the employee claims dismissal was arbitrary or discriminatory, however poorly supported, you are in major trouble. Win or lose, “litigation can crush you,” says Miller.
Don’t think that courts will cut you slack because you’re small.
“If you are before a judge, the laws are no less rigorous for a small employer than for a large employer,” Miller says.
Punitive damages may be smaller because of company resources. But the angry ex-employee will still demand reimbursement for legal costs, time out of work, plus compensation for pain and suffering.
And that could cost you your business.
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How To Fire An Employee
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