HIRING, FIRING, DOWNSIZING GUIDE

 

 

Chapter 1. The Hiring Process

 

Affirmative Action Plan

 

Affirmative action plans are policies geared to both hire and promote minorities including women in order to diversify the workplace, to make it multicultural and disabled-friendly, not just a bunch of white males with a token black or two running the place.

 

There are several reasons companies have affirmative action plans:

Companies with 50 or employees and at least $50,000 in government contracts must have an affirmative action plan.

 

Certain public sector employers such as schoolboards are required to have affirmative action plans.

 

Affirmative action plans are sometimes imposed on companies who have been convicted of discrimination in a class action lawsuit.

 

Some companies have affirmative action plans because they are morally conscientious.

 

Some companies do it because it makes them look good to have a diverse workforce.

 

If your company is legally required to develop an affirmative action plan, you will probably get a law firm or consulting firm to oversee its formulation.

 

Under federal equal opportunity laws, affirmative action laws and state laws, companies are required to keep personnel activity data which breaks down employees and applicants in categories of race and sex. 

The government wants these if it decides to audit you for compliance of both discrimination and affirmative action laws.

 

It all gets muddled and complicated.  Go to the federal enforcement agencies in these areas:

 

Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), eeoc.gov.  Refer to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures.

 

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

 

Company Manual/ Employee Handbook

 

The best way to protect yourself legally from your employees is to have as detailed a company manual as you can for standard of conduct and job responsibilities.  Employees are well-advised to read their company manual and know exactly where they stand on all issues.

 

Even if your company is not that big, make up a simple manual that makes everything crystal clear.  Give it to employees to help them learn about the rules and protect you legally in the event that a situation will come up down the line.

 

The biggest rule is to practice what you preach.  Don't put rules in that you can't practice or honor.  Don't just buy a cookie-cutter rule book or software package and use it.  Be specific.

 

This informs employees what's expected of them both to help get the job done more efficiently and to make all the rules and legal issues crystal clear.

 

Think of the company manual in two basic categories:

 

Human Resource Issues/ Employee Handbook

 

Company Policy Handbook

 

Human Resources are basic logistic issues like pay check, benefits, vacation time, medical insurance, education benefits, union relations, etc.

 

Company policy tells the employee how to act, what to do, how to dress in some cases and rules of conduct.

 

Draft up a personnel manual covering all the relevant issues in your organization, give one to each individual, have them sign for it then tell them they will have to sign a form in seven days (ample time for them to read it) stating they have read it, understand it and will live by these rules.  You could even test them on it if you want.

 

A company policy manual is good for both sides.  It spells out what the company expects of its employees and what they will get from the company.A well-defined manual keeps everything clear.

 

If you're really good, you will spell out the state

and federal laws you're following and give addresses where employees can get more information on these laws and also who to contact if they have grievances against your company on specific issues. 

This way, you will look good should it ever come to pass that an employee tries to sue you on some point of law.

 

Have a human resource person and your lawyer work together to draft it up.

 

Hold a meeting with your top managers and ask them for points to include in your manual.

 

After the first draft is done, hire some English literature or business students to critique it and add ideas to it.

 

Get ideas by perusing other company websites or getting a hold of other company websites.

 

Make the text as simple as possible.  Use lots of titles and subtitles to make it easy to find specific information.

 

Edit the manual at least twice to make it as simple and clear as possible.  Give it to two different people to edit.  You could get a secretary to do it or hire a freelance writer.

 

Make your Table of Contents and Index as detailed as possible.

 

Start it with a Welcome letter from the boss, then move into a brief history and background, the company vision along with an organizational chart with photographs and basic job descriptions of managers. 

 

Clearly list the company holidays each year.  State the amount of vacation days and sick days and what happens to these days if they're not used.  They're often converted to cash.  For vacation pay, what you don't use in any year, you get paid for. 

 

With sick leave, most companies have a lifetime cap of 1300 hours or so of unused sick leave that they won't pay you for when you leave the job.  You either use them for a legitimate business or they're gone forever.

 

In any case, run it by an employment lawyer to check it over before you print it up for the employees.

 

Put a suggestion form at the end that the employees can tear out and write feedback about the manual and other ideas if they want.

 

Make everybody sign for the manual then sign a form two weeks later stating they have read it and understand it.

 

Books about the company manual are at #658.45 at the library.

 

Company Rulebook Major Points

 

The SBA at sba.gov have prepared an article called Pointers on Preparing an Employee Handbook.  Some of the major points are:

 

Welcome message.

 

Company history and vision.

 

Equal Employment Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Statement.

 

Employment Rules

 

Employee Rules.

 

Job responsibility.

 

Terms of employment, job responsibility.

 

Probationary period.

 

Grounds for termination.

 

Resignation procedure.

Severance pay.

 

Dress code.

 

Hours of work.

 

Chain of command.

 

Clocking in and out.

 

Personal Evaluation Report.

 

Probationary period.

 

Rate of pay.

 

Shift premiums.

 

Health and safety.

 

Procedures for complaints.

 

Benefits

 

Overtime.

 

Raises, promotions.

 

Expense account.

 

Holidays.

 

Vacations.

 

Sick leave.

 

Maternity leave, paternity leave.

 

Health and life insurance.

 

Medical benefits.

 

Parking.

 

Training and education.

Christmas bonus.

 

Retirement savings plan.

 

Pension.

 

Profit-sharing plan.

 

Jury duty.

 

Military Reserve leave.

 

Unemployment insurance.

 

Standard of Conduct

 

Absence from work.

 

Attendance at social functions mandatory or elective.

 

Dealing with the media.

 

Dress code.

 

Drug use at work

Drug and alcohol use off the job

General behavior.

 

Late for work.

 

Laziness on company time

Lunch, other breaks

Personal telephone and internet usage while at work.

 

Personal work on company time

Responsible to read the company manual and abide by it.

 

Treatment of customers

Workplace romance

 

Legal Matters

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Guidelines

Sexual harassment

Religious customs on the job

Political affiliations

Political or religious preaching on the job

Child support garnishing of wages

 

Safety and Health

 

Safety rules

Emergency procedure

Return to work policy

Drug-Free Workplace

 

Government Mandated Employee Benefits

 

FICA, Social Security

Unemployment

Worker's Compensation

Military Reserve Duty

Maternity Leave

Time off to vote

Jury Duty

State laws for employees

 

Insurance

Health

Life Short-term disability Long-term disability

 

Employee-Company Relations

 

Union-management relations.

 

Passing knowledge onto employees.

 

Company newsletter.

 

Employee complaints

Company website for employees.

 

Suggestion box

Bulletin board

 

Special Services

 

Employee discounts.

 

Monthly newsletter.

Credit Union.

 

Education plan.

 

Onsite cafeteria.

 

Onsite gym.

 

Annual social events.

 

Bowling league.

 

Soccer team.

 

Overall, some of the possible topics for a company manual are as follows:

 

Accidents

Address change

Advance in pay Affirmative actionAttendance/absenteeism/lateness

Automobile parking

Awards

Bereavement leave

Bonding with workers

Bulletin boards

Business conference

Change of status

Communications

Complaints

Confidential information

Conflict of interest

Counseling

Credit union

Death of employee

Demotion

Disability

Discharge/ termination

Dress/appearance

Drugfree workplace

Education, aid to

Employment agreements approvals

Employee assistance programs

Employee services

Equal employment opportunity

Exempt/non-exempt classification

Exit interview

Expense account, travel, accommodations, meal

Flexible work schedule

Food service

Garnishment

Gifts or gratuities

Harassment

Health and welfare plans

Holidays

Hours of work

Independent contractor

Identification, employee

Insurance, life, accidental, death, dental

Internal assignment

Job descriptions

Job postings

Jury duty

Leaves and absences, disability

Leave, military

Leave, pregnancy

Library

Lost and found

Meal allowance

Medical and dental appointments

Medical approval

Medical records

Memberships

Military reserve training, annual

Minors working

Non-union employee relations

Objectives, company

Opinion surveys

Organizational charts

Orientation of new employees

Outside employment

Overtime payment

Passes

Patents

Performance appraisal, employee

Personal time off

Personnel records, privacy, release of information

Policy and procedure manual

Political activities of employees

Probationary period, new employee

Profit sharing

Promotion

Purchases, employee

Radios

Recognition, employee

Recreation, activities

Recruiting/ hiring

Relocation of employees

Retirement plan

Return to work restrictions after medical illness

Safety

Salary continuation plan

Savings bonds

Separation

Service awards

Severance pay

Sick leave

Smoking

Social security

Solicitations

Status, definitions of employment

Suggestion plan

Telephones

Termination

Training and development

Transfer

Travel insurance

Tuition aid

Unemployment compensation tax

Uniforms

Union relations

Visitors/tours

Voting, time off to

Wage/salary administration

Work area cleanliness

Workers' compensation

 

Books about the company manual are at #658.45 at the library.

 

Employee Investigations/ Employee Screening Tests

 

Private investigators and pre-employment screening firms that do employment or pre-employment investigations for corporations are regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act which means they can investigate an individual's credit history with a court order or his or her written consent but both they and/ or the company they work for are bound by law to provide the individual with certain disclosures, notices and authorizations aimed at protecting the prospective employee's rights.

 

In general, these conditions are:

 

Notification to the employee that an investigation will be conducted;

 

If adverse action will be taken against the employee as a result of the investigation, he or she must first be advised that adverse action is pending.  At this time, the employee must be provided with a copy of the investigative report;

 

Within a reasonable amount of time, the employee must be given notice that adverse action has been taken as a result of the investigation.  The employee must be provided a copy of his rights under the FCRA with all written communications throughout the investigation.

 

Some private investigator trade groups are lobbying to reduce the stringent regulations regarding employee investigations.

 

You can get information on the Fair Credit Reporting Act by going to the Federal Trade Commission's website, ftc.gov, clicking onto the  "business" button then going to the Fair Credit Reporting Act area.

 

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is located at 15 USC 1681, et seq.

 

verificationsinc.com, employment screening solutions.

 

successfactors.com, employee evaluation, screening tests and evaluations for sale.

 

business.com

 

Employment Contract Info

 

Typical factors in an employment contract are:

 

Starting date.

 

Your exact job responsibilities.

 

Term of employment.

 

Compensation, salary, bonuses, stock options, employee benefits, company car, club memberships, loans, profit sharing, etc.

 

Termination conditions.

 

Severance compensation.

 

Death benefits.

 

Disability provision.

 

Amendment clause.

 

Probation period.

 

Your chain of command.

 

Your benefits and perks; medical, insurance, pension, car, expense account, etc.

 

Guarantee of employment for a specified period of time.

Termination rules on both sides like they each must give timely notice.

 

Secrecy provisions

 

Job title.

 

Changes in job duties

 

Salary.

 

Signing bonus if any.

 

Raises.

 

Notice of contract renewal or nonrenewal

 

Parking space.

 

Vacation time per year.

 

Severance package should you be terminated without cause.

 

Just about anything else. 

 

All employment contracts are open and negotiable.  Although the employer usually has it all set up, a good employee can make demands and include them in the contract. 

 

Some employment contracts are negotiated with hired guns on each side trying to get the best deal for their clients.  The bottom line is always salary.  Be tactful but get all the exact details so they don't snow you later or leave you hangin'. 

 

Compromise, reach a common ground.  Expect benefits.  Offer a renegotiation clause within a year or two.  You don't have to accept it right away.  You can think about it first.  Don't overestimate your value.  Everybody's expendable.

 

If you're good, you can negotiate.

 

Get a good definition of your job description in writing, keep it current by updating it from time to time with your boss and keep a paper trail of relevant things that happen to you on the job, both good and bad should you ever need it in a tough situation where they want to get rid of you.

 

Books about employee issues are at #331.25 or HF5549 at the library.

 

Try #658.311 or HF5549.5 at the library for books about recruiting employees from a manager's point of view.  Also go to the American Management Association's website amacombooks.com for books about the subject.

 

careerjournal.com/jobhunting/negotiate/

careerjournalasia.com/jobhunting/negotiate/

careerjournaleurope.com/jobhunting/negotiate/

cio.com/article/100252/how_to_negotiate_an_employment_contract

collegerecruiter.com/pages/questions/question236.html, how to negotiate a signing bonus.

ehow.com/how_1379_negotiate-employment-contract.html

employmentattorneylosangeles.com/contract_law_faqs.html

employmentdigest.net/2007/03/how-to-negotiate-an-employment-contract/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/employment_contract

enterasia-info.com/contract.html, expatriate employment contract.

grosman.com. legal advice in employment and labour law issues, wrongful dismissal cases, employment contracts and human rights.

legalmatch.com/law-library/article/employment-contract-law.html lifehacker.com/software/career/how-to-negotiate-a-great-work-contract-235059.php

madufflaw.com/employment, executive compensation agreement employment contract negotiation.

mmaonline.net/pdf/physiciansguideemploymentcontracts2004.pdf, a physician's guide to employment contracts.

railpersonnel.com/frontend/resource/pdf_doc/the_employment_contract.pdf

/offers.html

sabonline.com, learn effective negotiation skills.

scotworkusa.com, learn effective negotiation skills.

 

Immigrant Issues

 

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires employers to be able to prove that all employees hired after November 6, 1986, are legally authorized to work in the United States. 

 

The employer is responsible to check documentation within three days of hiring them and keep this record on file for three years. 

The new employee must submit an I-9 Form to provide proof of immigrant status.  Call the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Information Number 800-870-3676 to get information on the new "green cards," Form 766.

 

According to the Immigrant Act of 1990, Public Law 101-649, there are seven categories of employable immigrants;

 

Individuals with unique or extraordinary skills.

 

Professionals with advanced degrees.

 

Skilled workers without advanced degrees and unskilled workers who will do jobs which the DOL certifies there is a shortage of Americans for.

 

Special category of religious and social workers.

 

Immigrants who have the capacity to invest at least one million dollars and hire ten workers.

 

H-1B, temporary workers who will not become citizens.

 

H-2B, temporary, non-agricultural workers.

 

americanlaw.com

cis.org, 202-466-8185, employer sanctions database contains a list of companies who have gotten fines for employing illegal aliens.

crossborder.com, taxes.

fred.net/mahesh/immigration.html

ilw.com, immigration law.

ins.gov

ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms, forms.

ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/feechart.htm, fees.

iom.int/defaultmigrationweb.asp, immigration database.

livingabroad.com

mks.com/~richw/dualcit.html, dual citizenship.

refugeecaselaw.org

shusterman.com

state.gov, u.s. department of state.

travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html

visalaw.com, immigration law.

 

Immigration and Naturalization Service (Ins)

Department of Justice

425 I Street, N.W.

Washington, Dc 20536

202-514-4316

202-514-2783 (Tdd)

800-375-5283

ins.gov

ins.usdoj.gov

Look in your telephone directory under "U.S. Government, Justice Department, Immigration and Naturalization Service."

 

American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

1400 Eye St. Nw

#1200

Washington, Dc 20005

202-371-9377

aila.org

 

Cross Border Tax and Accounting

3336 N. 32nd St.

#100

Phoenix, Az 85108

800-858-3357

cbta.net

Newsletter and professional services.

 

Immigration Form I-9

 

All employers are responsible for completing a Form 1-9 for everyone they have hired after November 6, 1986.This law is administered by the INS in order to help keep illegal aliens taking jobs away from American citizens.

 

The law requires employers to:

 

Have the new employee fill out Section one of Form I-9 on the day they start work.

 

Look over the Ids new employees present to them.  If they look fake, employers must reject them.  In order to further legally protect themselves, some employers photocopy the Ids presented to them to have documentation that they complied should the INS come calling.

 

Complete Section 2 of Form 1-9 within seventy-two hours of a new employee's start date.

 

Keep Form 1-9 for three years after the date of hire or one year after the person's employment is terminated, whichever is later.

 

Have Form I-9 ready for inspection to an officer of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Labor or the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices if they come calling.

 

There are three types of legal employment:

 

Citizen.

 

Lawful permanent residents, authorized to work with a green card.

 

Aliens authorized to work here for a specified period of time such as those with H-I B worker visas.

 

If a new employee doesn't have ID, he has three days to produce it otherwise you can fire him.  If he has lost his Social Security Card, he can go to the local Social Security Office, apply for a new card and by filling out Form SS-5, he will receive a receipt of application for the Social Security card which is enough evidence for now but then he has ninety days to show the actual document otherwise you have the right to fire that person.

 

The employer fills out Section 2 of Form 1-9.  Violation of any of this law could result in both fines and criminal prosecution.  If it's just an honest mistake, you will get a fine.  If it's intentional fraud, you will be fined and could be charged criminally.

 

The acceptable documents for conformance with Immigration and Control Act are as follows:

 

LIST A.  Documents That Establish Both Identity and Employment Eligibility

 

1. U.S. Passport (unexpired or expired)

 

2. Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (INS Form N-560 or N-561)

 

3. Certificate of Naturalization (INS Form N-550 or N-570)

 

4. Unexpired foreign passport with I-551 stamp or attached INS Form I-94 indicating unexpired employment authorization

 

5. Alien Registration Receipt Card with photograph (INS Form I-151 or I-551)

 

6. Unexpired Temporary Resident Card (INS Form I-688)

 

7. Employment Authorization Card (INS Form I-688)

 

8. Unexpired Reentry Permit (INS Form I-327)

 

9. Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (INS Form I-571)

 

10. Unexpired Employment Authorization Document issued by the INS which contains a photograph (INS Form I-688B)

 

OR

 

LIST B.  Documents That Establish Identity (to be presented with a document from List C)

 

1. Driver's license or ID card issued by a state or outlying possession of the U.S. provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color and address.

 

2. ID card issued by federal, state, or local government agencies or entities provided it contains a photograph or information such as name, date of birth, sex, height, eye color and address

 

3. School ID card with a photograph

 

4. Voter's registration card

 

5. U.S. Military card or draft record

 

6. Military dependent's ID card

 

7. U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Card

 

8. Native American tribal document

 

9. Driver's license issued by a Canadian government authority

 

For persons under age 18 who are unable to present a document listed above:

 

10. School record or report card

11. Clinic, doctor, or hospital record

12. Day-care or nursery school record

 

AND

 

LIST C.  Documents That Establish Employment Eligibility (to be presented with a document from List B)

 

1. U.S. Social Security card issued by the Social Security Administration (other than a card stating that it is not valid for employment)

 

2. Certification of Birth Abroad issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545 or Form DS-1350)

 

3. Original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a state, county, municipal authority, or outlying possession of the United States bearing an official seal

 

4. Native American tribal document

5. U.S. Citizen ID Card (INS Form I-197)

 

6. ID Card for use of Resident Citizen in the United States (INS Form I-179)

 

7. Unexpired employment authorization document issued by the INS (other than those listed in LIST A)

 

For more information, get the booklet Handbook for Employers: Instructions for Completing Form I-9:

 

immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/index

 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services 20 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20529 800 375-5283

uscis.gov/graphics/lawsregs/handbook/hnmanual.htm

Handbook for Employers (M-274), help employers deal with the department's procedures and forms.

 

New Hires Database

 

Federal law requires every state government to set up a database that documents all people newly hired in the state.  This is done in order to track people trying to escape child support obligations.

 

After an employee is hired, an employer has twenty days to register the new employee in the New Hires database used to track child support cheats.

 

acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/employer/private/nh/newhire

 

Chapter 2. The Hiring Process 2

 

Probationary Period

 

There are probationary periods for disciplining existing employees and probationary periods for the new employed.  In my opinion, take all employees for a test drive.  Put them on probation for the first year.

 

The candidate must prove that he or she is worthy of the job by doing it for at least several months, day after day.

 

Legally speaking, rejection during the probationary period is not termination.  It's considered part of the hiring process and the employee is rejected.

 

Just as an employer is free to let an employee go during the probationary period, the employee is also free to leave.  This can be a time to evaluate whether or not the job is as good as it was portrayed to be.

 

All new employees should be told, in writing, that they will not achieve the status of regular employee until this probationary period has been successfully completed.

 

In many cases, new employees do not get the normal benefits such as medical care, insurance, etc., but they do get vacation times and sick days.

 

Sponsoring Skilled Foreign Workers

 

If your business is in an academic or high-tech field, you might have to recruit from abroad.  In order to get a visa/ green card for a foreign worker, you have to first prove that you tried to find a qualified American worker but couldn't. 

 

The employer usually must obtain a Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor saying there is a shortage of such workers in America.

 

You prove you can't find a qualified worker by running ads in newspapers and on the internet to document your attempts to find workers in America first.

 

Relating to the employment option of U.S. Immigration, of the five categories of immigrant visas, called preferences, the first three apply:

 

(1)(a), Extraordinary Ability.

 

(l)(b), Outstanding Professors and Researchers.

 

(2) Advanced Degrees, Exceptional Ability, Professionals.

 

(3) Skilled Workers.

 

To qualify for these preference categories, an individual must have some academic degrees plus some years of experience in their fields.

 

For the second and third preferences, the sponsoring employer must file a "Petition for Prospective Immigrant Employee" form (INS Form 140).

 

Attorneys' fees for this process is several thousand dollars and it can take anywhere from one to five years.

 

The simplest way to sponsor a foreign worker is probably through an H-lB nonimmigrant visa for temporary employment as a Specialty Occupation.  The term is usually six years.

 

American Immigration Lawyers Assn.

 

1400 Eye St. Nw

#1200

Washington, Dc 20005

800-954-0254

202-371-9377

ilrs@aila.org

aila.org

 

U.S.A. Immigration and Naturalization

Immigration and Naturalization Service (Ins) Department of Justice

425 I Street, N.W. Washington, Dc 20536 202-514-4316

202-514-2783 (Tdd)

800-375-5283

ins.usdoj.gov

ins.gov

Look in your telephone directory under "U.S. Government, Justice Department, Immigration and Naturalization Service."  If it does not appear, call the appropriate Federal Information Center number.

 

Tax Credit for Hiring Welfare To Work Folk

 

If you hire people on welfare that the government is trying to get into the workforce, some state governments subsidize up to one half of the wages you pay them.  Contact them for more information. 

On a federal level, The Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the Welfare to Work Tax Credit gives employers benefits.  Call the IRS at 800-829-3676 (irs.gov) and get Form 8850 (Pre-Screening Notice and Certification Request for The Work Opportunity and Welfare to Work Credits). 

Get Form 9061 (Individual Characteristics Form) from the Department of Labor (202-219-9092, doleta.gov/wotc).

 

Welfare To Work Partnership

1250 Connecticut Ave. Nw

Washington, Dc 20036

202-955-3005

Fax: 202-955-1087

welfaretowork.org

 

Work History Verification

 

This is for employers looking to check up on people applying for work.

 

employmentverificationguide.com

advancingwomen.com/careers/5722.php, the importance of background verification.

arsbackgrounds.com/verification.htm

corporateinformation.com

freerecordsregistry.com/check-employment-history.htm

hprc.ncqa.org/cvoresult.asp

jobsearch.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/cs/backgroundcheck/a/background.htm

myjobhistory.com/howitworks.asp, affix our seal of verification to your resume. your work history, education and credentials are independently verified and instantly available online for employers. ncqa.org/programs/accreditation/certification/cvo/cvotext.htm, check on credentials.

resumeverify.com

securesolutionsusa.com/services/employment_history.htm

selectinformation.com, investigation firm specializing in pre-employment screening.

staftrack.com/work.htm, employee screening specializing in criminal records, credit reports, workers comp records, education verification, credentialing,driving records and work history. theworknumber.com

usis.com/commercialservices/retail/historyverification.htm

verires.com

workfirst.wa.gov/about/dra/guidance_verification_1206.pdf, further guidance on work verification plans.

yourinformationsource.com/mainpages/education.htm

 

Professional Credential Verification Services 

 

There are private degree checking services out there.  You present them with the name of a school and name of an individual.  For $50 or so, they check to see if it's a real school accredited by a government sanctioned accrediting agency and get a transcript of all courses the individual took there. 

 

Be wary of phony degree checking services advertising on the internet.  Anyone can set up a website and tell their clients anything they want or what they want for a fee even if it's not the truth.

 

aacrao.org, american assn. of collegiate registrars and admissions officers.

naces.org, national assn. of credential evaluation services.

 

prometheusbooks.com, book about diploma mills, tells employers how to deal with employees with fake degrees.

arsbackgrounds.com/verification.htm

ece.org ecnext.com

edverify.com, 877-338-3743

investigationnet.com  jobsearch.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/cs/backgroundcheck/a/background.htm

manta.com

pcvs.net

usdatalink.com/services/311_overview.htm  resumeverify.com

securesolutionsusa.com/services/employment_history.htm

selectinformation.com, investigation firm specializing in pre-employment screening.

 

staftrack.com/work.htm, employee screening specializing in criminal records, credit reports, workers comp records, education verification, credentialing, driving records and work history. studentclearinghouse.com

usis.com, us investigations services.

usis.com/commercialservices/retail/historyverification.htm

verires.com

 

Chapter 3. How Do You Find Good Workers to Hire?

 

Finding Employees to Hire 1

 

When you get to your final few employee candidates for an important job, invite each to come in and work for you for a day while you watch them.

 

Go to professional networking websites to look for employees. 

 

Take all employees for a test drive.  Put them on probation for the first year.

 

When setting out to hire someone, first of all define the job being offered as specifically as possible so that potential employees will know exactly what you're looking for.  Advertise, get a pool of candidates then before you interview them, plan out your interview. 

Write out a dozen or so questions you feel you should ask.  Have information about the company ready for the potential employee, things like pay, bonuses, corporate culture, training (if applicable), job responsibilities, etc.

 

The questions employers cannot ask during an interview are as follows:

 

Age.

 

Ancestry.

 

Citizenship.

 

Color.

 

Creed.

 

Criminal background.

 

Disability.

 

Family status.

 

Gender.

Marital status.

 

National origin.

 

Public assistance recipient.

 

Race.

 

Religion.

 

Sexual orientation.

 

The laws regarding hiring employees are as follows:

 

Different agencies require that you keep paperwork regarding employees for different lengths of time, all the way from application forms to contracts and payroll records.  The minimum period is two years.  The maximum period is ten years.

 

What you're looking for is:

 

Attitude.

 

Experience, maturity.

 

Stability, potential for longevity.

 

Leadership potential.

 

Technical skills.

 

It all comes down to creating rapport with the individual.  Use your intuition in deciding whether to hire someone or not.  Check references but don't be bound by them. 

 

The true test is who this person is standing in front of you.  Look for someone who naturally lives an interesting life and enjoys the process of hard work.  It's in their auras.

 

Look for people similar to you ideologically.  Don't hire big mouths, loud mouths, motor mouths and bullshitters.  Beware of arrogant people and people who promise the world but deliver considerably less.  Don't hire bullies or scamming type people who want to take the easy way out.

 

People are basic.  They are either good workers or bad workers, positive or negative, whiners or doers, givers or takers, etc. 

 

If you're unsure about someone, if they don't clearly seem like a good worker to you, do yourself a favor, tell them you will call then keep interviewing until you find someone who looks like they respect themselves enough to be a good worker.

 

As an employer, get a federal ID number and take care of the taxes you pay with each employee. 

 

Your job is to find qualified workers who can do the job.  Some ways are:

 

Check out college and high school students through internships and co-op programs where they work for you for a few hours a week or for the summer and if you come across good workers, offer them fulltime jobs.

 

Have a 90 day, six month or even a year probation all spelled out in your rules and regulations.  During this time period, you can either let this person go or make them fulltime employees which means they get all the regular benefits and can't be fired without going through the regular channels of disciplinary review.

 

Place a "Help Wanted" advertisement on your website or corporate newsletter if you have one.

 

Ask your top employees, business colleagues and friends if they know a good worker looking for a job.

 

Bring in interns, temps from temp agencies and volunteers.  If any of them are good, hire them.

 

Take drop-ins seriously.  They were motivated enough to come in.

 

Network with local professionals, local business and social service clubs.

 

Place an ad through your free government employment agency.

 

Place a classified ad in newspapers and magazine.

 

Put a sign at your place of business.

 

Place an ad on a job website.

 

Use for-profit employment agencies and executive recruiters/ headhunters to bring you qualified people.

 

Go to job fairs to recruit workers.

 

Go to schools and recruit there.

 

Go to trade and professional organizations.

 

For a job ad, put the date you're listing it, the name of your company and a brief description of what you do, a description of the job, necessary qualifications, pay and benefits, employment procedure.

 

Get their application form/ resume, have an interview, do a background check through credit and criminal records if you want and go from there.

 

If you want to hire freelancers instead of regular employees, state it in your ad, post ads on freelance type websites then make sure you match the IRS's criteria for what constitutes an independent contractor and go from there.  This is one way to avoid tax headaches but could be shaky with the IRS.

 

Because good workers are hard to find in specialized fields, it's sometimes very competitive for employers who have to offer the best package overall in order to attract top talent.  Find out what the others are paying and either stay competitive or top them.

 

Some other incentives are:

 

Health and dental insurance.

 

Disability insurance.

 

Life insurance.

 

Pension.

 

Stock ownership.

 

Cash bonuses for completed projects.

 

Commissions.

 

Matching funds for a retirement savings plan.

 

If you want to diversify your workplace with minorities, go to the minority employment websites.

 

After you hire somebody, in order to stay legally sound, do the relevant things in this checklist:

 

Fill out immigration Form I-9 on the employee, immigration.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms.

 

Have the employee go through a medical exam, if applicable.

 

Have the employee fill out IRS Form W-4 and a state tax form, if applicable.

 

Have the employee fill out Form EEO-1 relating to discrimination, eeoc.gov.

 

Hand out a copy of the job description, your employee handbook and other policies and verify that the employee reads it by making him or her sign a paper saying they did.

 

Have the employee agree to sign an arbitration agreement which will mean that if there is an employee-employer dispute, it will be resolved through arbitration rather than through the courts.

 

Have the employee sign noncompete and confidentiality agreements (not sharing trade secrets), if applicable.

 

Take care of health insurance if you offer a group policy.

 

Start up employee benefits.

 

After an employee is hired, an employer has twenty days to register the new employee in the New Hires database used to track child support cheats.

 

Try linkedin.com, go to job insider.

 

Finding Employees to Hire 2

 

Be clear on what exactly you are looking for out of this new employee.  Write it up in your ad.  Space is free on websites like craigslist.org.  You can pay a headhunter if you want but all I ever do is go to craigslist, find the jobs category and post my ad up of who I'm looking for and I always get at least a dozen responses.  Mind you, I'm not looking for a specialist.  I'm usually looking for a basic website designer or word processor.

 

You might be tempted to outsource some work to some guy in India for ten bucks an hour but I prefer dealing with people face-to-face.

 

One of the easiest ways to find a new worker is to ask your current employees if they know someone with that skill looking for a job.

 

If you want general labor, look for a local group that helps new immigrants then tell them you're looking for a new employee. 

You can go to any church and ask the priest if he knows anyone looking for a job.

 

I went with my father one time to the front of the Salvation Army homeless shelter.  He hired some guy.  The guy got his first pay check and we never saw him again.  Don't hire homeless bums.  They're bums because they choose to be.  If you offer a bum a job, he might go with you to case out your joint to break-in later.

 

If you're looking for a specialist, the closer the person lives to you, the better off you'll both be.  There is nobody that special in virtually every occupation that you need to go more than a few hundred miles to find a good one who can do the job.  Research scientists and a few other fields are highly specialized but everything else is pretty generic.

 

Retirees can turn out to be good workers.  Look for a local senior website and post an ad up on it.  Try aarp.org and carp.ca.

 

Some disabled people are good with sit-down work like answering phones, doing administrtative work, doing something on the computer, etc.  Contact local disability organizations.  My thinking is that these people, if they're not too angry or have gotten over their beef with life for giving them a lousy hand, will appreciate a job more than the average person would therefore be better workers than average normal people.

 

The local newspapers will charge money for you to place an ad.  I say stick with backpage, kijiji and craigslist. 

Every college has an employment page on their website where employers can post free ads.

 

Most of the time, you, as an employer, have to pay for the services of a recruiter and pay to get access to a website that has a bunch of resumes on it, a resume bank.

 

Some professions have a national trade/ professional organization with local chapters.  Find the local chapter in your area and put an ad up on their website.

 

Find your local chamber of commerce (chamberofcommerce.org) and put a free ad up there.

 

If your field is a major offered at college, look through the list of clubs at your local college.  If you find a club related to your field, send them an email asking them to post your ad up.  Another thing is to go to the college building where your subject area is taught, put an ad up on the bulletin board somewhere in there.  If there is an in-box for graduate students, put a copy of your ad in every slot.  Young people are generally desperate for money and hungry to prove themselves.

 

If you have a friend who works for a competing company, ask him or her if anyone is retiring or is looking for a job.

 

Don't hire anybody cold.  At least talk to them for ten minutes to see where their head is at.  If you like them, offer them the job.  If you don't, tell them you got another guy to see about the job then you'll decide who to hire. 

 

The truth is that you can learn more about a person in a ten minute talk-discussion-interview than a resume will ever reveal.  Resumes tell you what formal skills someone has but they do not tell you the person's ability to act civilly with other people, their anger quotient or how vain they are.  You learn these things very quickly talking to someone.  I've seen impeccable resumes then I call the guy up and talk to him and I know in about two minutes he's some self-centered prima donna who won't do an inch more work than he feels he must to satisfy the job requirements. 

 

I'm looking for somebody with a sense of dedication not some pompous ass who will never go out of his way to do anything extra.  The western world is a culture of entitlement.  Millions of young people think they are worth a lot more than they actually are.  Weed these people out before you ever hire them.  I've seen some really arrogant jerks in my day and the funny thing is that they don't know they're jerks.  They think they're cool, nice, friendly, capable workers doing a great job.  I think it's common with the young generation.  They grow up watching material excess on TV and think it will come easy to them.  They think they deserve it without working too hard.

 

Some young people are ambitious and know they must act humble and dedicated to get ahead but a lot of young people have to learn over time through experience that they have to appease other people like a boss in order to get ahead.  Most people over 35 know how the game works. 

 

Many people under 35 have an inflated sense of their value in the workforce.  That's what being young is about - narcissism aka self-centeredness so young workers are a gamble.  You might get a good one or you might get some asshole who can snow you in an interview then turn out to be a disaster.

 

Howard Hughes hired all Mormons to be his inner circle.  Find a Church of Latter Day Saints, phone them up, ask them if they know any members looking for work.

 

Hiring Websites/ The Hire Process

 

Books about hiring and firing are at #658.311 or HF5549.5 at the library.

 

opm.gov/hiringtoolkit

 

betterteam.com/hiring-process, How to Streamline Your Hiring Process.

careerlab.com/hiring.htm

talenttech.com, hiring software.

amacombooks.com

amacombooks.org, books.

americanexpress.com/osbn/tool/hiring/intro.asp

askmen.com/money/career_100/105_career.html

astd.com

blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/how_to_hire_the.html, how to hire the best people.

businessknowhow.com/manage/improve-hiring.htm

businessseek.biz/article-directory/article-996.html, article telling business owners how to post want ads on job boards.

cacee.com/negotiat

cch.com, 800-835-5224, commerce clearing comprehensivehire.com

dol.gov, go to "law and regs" section.

ehow.com/how_2180368_hire.html

ericsink.com/bos/hazards_of_hiring.html

ers.dol.govt.nz/publications/pdfs/hiring_guide.pdf

freemangroupsolutions.com/repository/assets/pdfs/jdlibrary.pdf, library of generic job descriptions for use by employers looking to hire someone.

hire-assist.com

hirebridge.com

hiregolden.com, recruiters.

hirequality.ca

hireresults.ca

hirevelocity.com

hiringsolutions.net/hiringprocess/hiringprocess.htm

humanresources.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/cs/selectionstaffing/a/hiringchecklist.htm

iacmp.org, assn. of career management idealhire.com

itmanagersjournal.com/articles/252, how to hire great open source developers.

jobsearchtech.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/interviewquestion/interview_questions_to_ask.htm kennedyinfo.com, 800-531-0007, books.

kiplinger.com/businessresource/recommend/archive/2007/effective_hiring_select_international.html

knowwhoyouhire.com, (800) 818-8809.

lbl.gov/workplace/cfo/assets/docs/cfo/hr/hiringprocessflowchart.pdf

management.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/managementskills/a/interviewq70204.htm

myemploymentguide.com/hiring_process_steps.asp

naceweb.org, college recruitment.

nuttymarketer.com/green/nutty/right-person.htm

peaksalesrecruiting.com, hire sales talent, tips on hiring for tech sales roles.

helpmehireright.com

peoplekeys.com

preferredhire.com

recruitmax.com/docs/upload/hiring2-whitepaper.pdf

rightfithiring.com

rocket-hire.com

safetysmart.com/hrcompliance

shrm.org

smallbiztrends.com

softwarebyrob.com

techlinks.net/communitypublishing/tabid/92/articletype/articleview/articleid/3582/the-right-process-for-hiring-a-cio.aspx

tms.tribune.com/rjtjob/offer0, negotiating when offered a job.

vistage.com/featured/the-top-10-hiring-mistakes.html

wikicfo.com/wiki/default.aspx?page=how+to+hire+new+employees

woljam.com/interview-questions-part-one.htm

 

The Interviewer Websites

 

joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000073.html, the guerrilla guide to interviewing

esquiregroup.com/ask_jobseekers_qa.cfm

jobsearchtech.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/interviewquestion/interview_questions_to_ask.htm

job-interview.net

job-website.info/job/ask-interview-job-question.html

bizinformer.com/50226711/the_best_question_to_ask_a_job_candidate.php

microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/management/recruiting_staffing/dont_ask_a_job_applicant_these_questions.mspx

 

Chapter 4. Background Checks Prevent Disasters

 

Background Checks and Checking References

 

The reason to both spend a few bucks to hire a database vendor to do a criminal background check and a credit check on someone you might want to hire and call up the references they give you on an application form is simply to save yourself the possibility of a lot of grief. 

A con artist has his con down and that includes fooling people face to face in employment interviews.  Anybody can psyche themselves up and come off good in an interview situation but the only true indicator of a person's performance barring able to see into their souls is their track record.  Past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.

 

Most people know what the guy or gal on the other side of the desk wants and they can deliver on cue which is why I don't think interviews are enough.

 

Sure it's face to face contact which is the best way to judge somebody but you have to get an idea of what this invidual has done criminally and creditwise and what the people he put down as references really think about him. 

 

A lot of people, when called up as a reference check, will tell what they perceive to be the truth about the candidate including his shortcomings. 

If the individual puts it down on his application form or resume, there is nothing illegal about checking up on references. 

 

If it's an especially sensitive job, why not put a PI on the payroll to see what he can dig up on the guy or gal through a routine general database or records search?

 

There are generally two types of references:

 

Personal reference.

 

Work reference.

 

Most people who know the candidate personally will be a friend and state as much but working references will often be more straightforward  about their relationship with the candidtate.

 

When you call references up, state who you are, state that you're calling about candidate x, ask if you can ask a few questions relating to work then ask things like how long have they known candidtate x, in what capacity, what was his job, how well did he do it, what are his strengths and weaknesses, what is his attitude like, how is he as a leader, how would you rate his work performance on a scale from one to 100, what is his motivating lifeforce, what are his communication skills like, would you hire him, why or why not, does he have any personal problems I should be aware of, is there anything else you'd like to tell me about him.

 

If you hire someone without doing a proper check, you could be later sued for negligent hiring.  Suppose you hire a janitor for your school who is a convicted sex offender without doing a background check and he lies on the application form or worse, there is no question like this on the application for fear that it violates his privacy.  Six months later, he rapes one of the students.That's a lawsuit staring you in the face.

 

If you're worried about invading the individual's privacy by investigating him, make up a Dislosure Form that you ask him to sign saying he authorizes you to do a background check and to check the references he gave you.  To stay legal, keep your investigation limited to job performance and character related questions.

 

Verify all academic degrees anyone claims to have.  Simply call the college they said they attended.  There are services that do this which I talk about in my education book.

 

You  can do criminal background checks on people at rapsheets.com for a few bucks per search.  About ten states have websites where you can access the criminal records of people you might want to investigate.

 

Type people's names into search engines.

 

Try #658.311 or HF5549 at the library for books about this aspect of employee hiring.

 

In order to hire an information broker, go to aiip.org or infoindustry.org.

 

napbs.com, national association of professional background screeners.

 

employment-reference.com

esrcheck.com, employment screening resources.

hq.navy.mil/shhro/refcheck/ref1.htm, checking references.

checkmyreference.com

jobsearch.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/referencesrecommendations/a/refercheck.htm

hiredimensions.com infolinkscreening.com

hire-safe.com, pre-employment background checking and screening, criminal records, drug testing, driving records.

 

1800ussearch.com

aaronspi.com/background-check.htm

aboutbackgroundcheck.com uniquebackgroundchecks.com affiliatesuccess.net

americanbackground.com

backgroundsearcher.com

background-us.com, 800-697-7189

baradainc.com, consultant.

biblio.tu-bs.de/acwww25u/wbi_en/wbi.html, world biographical index.

checkthatbackground.com

cinnamond-global.com, global background checks

civil-files.com

courtrecords.org

criminalrecordssite.com

dacservices.com, 800-331-9175, fee for service.

databaseamerica.com

datesandlove.com

dbisna.com, 800-234-3867, dun and bradstreet information, fee for service.

detectivetoday.com

fdle.state.fl.us/criminalhistory/, (850) 410-8572

forbes.com/peopletracker, list of wealthy people, corporate ceos.

freeality.com, click on find people.

hire-safe.com, background checks, drug testing and integrity assesment profiles.

hrshopper.com, background checks for employment.

identi-check.com/services.asp  criminalwatchdog.com

infopeople.org/search

infousa.com, 800-555-5211, american manufacturer's directory.

intelius.com

iqdata,com, 800-264-6517, fee for service.

irsc.com

isleuth.com

itools.com/research-it

knowx.com

las-elc.org/lcriminalrecords.pdf

leadershipdirectories.com, 212-627-4140, 14 categories of "bigshots" in the u.s., gives little bios and contact addresses on them.

myreferences.com, employment verification and reference checking.  netdetective.com

net-investigator.org

nwlocation.com, fee for service.

official-certificates.co.uk

ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/task_force, social security number validation database.

peoplesearch.com

peoplesite.com

personbackgroundcheck.com/site2/criminalrecord/

pfcinformation.com, 212-580-7077, background checks.

precisehire.com, pre-employment screening service offering background check services for tenant and pre-employment screening.

privacyrights.org/fs/fs16-bck.htm

public-records-now.com

records.com

records-search.net references-etc.com

rmvrecords.org, driving records.

safespy.net

search.knowx.com, databases, public records, some free, some not.

search-detective.net

searchforanyone.org

thecriminalrecordcentre.com

the-seeker.com

usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html, verify whether an address is real or not.

ussearch.com

usuncover.com

webdetective.com

whitepages.com

worldpages.com

yell.co.uk, british yellow pages.

yellowbook.com

 

Background Check Websites

 

Ask these places for public records checks which should include criminal, marital and divorce records.

 

You can also use them to locate your own marriage or divorce records and get a copy.

 

searchsystems.net, free links to public records databases.

 

net-investigator.org

hire-safe.com, background checks, drug testing and integrity assesment profiles.

 

1800ussearch.com

aaronspi.com/background-check.htm

aboutbackgroundcheck.com uniquebackgroundchecks.com affiliatesuccess.net

backgroundsearcher.com

checkthatbackground.com

cinnamond-global.com, global background checks

civil-files.com

courtrecords.org

criminalrecordssite.com

datesandlove.com

detectivetoday.com

fdle.state.fl.us/criminalhistory/, (850) 410-8572

identi-check.com/services.asp  criminalwatchdog.com

intelius.com

knowx.com

las-elc.org/lcriminalrecords.pdf

netdetective.com

official-certificates.co.uk

peoplesearch.com

personbackgroundcheck.com/site2/criminalrecord/

pfcinformation.com, 212-580-7077, background checks.

public-records-now.com

records.com

records-search.net references-etc.com

rmvrecords.org, driving records.

safespy.net

search-detective.net

searchforanyone.org

thecriminalrecordcentre.com

ussearch.com

webdetective.com

whitepages.com

yellowbook.com

 

Chapter 5. The Firing Process

 

Discipline Someone

 

When you hire someone, give them a copy of the rules, their job description and a termination clause in their contract. 

 

If they screw up once or twice, discipline them via probationary period, letter of misconduct and keep increasing the severity of the punishment in three stages until they reach termination. 

 

Do a performance evaluation every six months so they know exactly where they stand and there can be no uncertainty that they were warned to improve. 

 

Use constructive discipline as though you're on the employee's side and want to help him correct his problem even if you want to get rid of him.

 

There are several situations where you can fire an employee immediately.  They are:

 

Incompetence, doesn't do the job.

 

Violence.

 

Vulgarity.

 

Insolence, insubordination.

 

Serious misconduct.

 

Theft, dishonesty, fraud.

 

Intoxication.

 

General screw-up, always messing things up.

 

Chronic lateness, takes too many days off.

 

Document all incidents as they come up.  A mean look won't cut it because it's subjective but action things can be documented like he spit on the floor and threw the broom against the wall. 

 

A bad attitude by itself is just an observation.  It has to be backed up with specific events or video-tape evidence like one company caught their employee on video scratching up the walls on purpose, another one destroyed products, etc. 

 

You might want to talk to a labor lawyer before you fire someone.

 

Don't fire anyone based on another person's word.  Always get both sides of the story and get proof before you act.  Many malicious people will lie about fellow employees they don't like. 

 

Don't tell a person in advance that you will let him go because you will just create a bad, bitter apple.  Fire him and get rid of him as quickly as possible. 

 

Have his termination check ready and be fair otherwise he may try to get you back somehow.  After you fire him, don't breathe a word of it to others except to say he was terminated and that's it.

 

There are laws regarding lay-offs too when they occur in responce to a company downsizing or restructuring.  You either have to give them ample notice and/ or some money to compensate for the loss, generally a week's pay for every year they've worked with you. 

 

Constructive Dismissal

 

Constructive Dismissal is a term used to denote a situation where the company manager or managers want to get rid of somebody but they either have no just cause to fire him or her legally or they don't want to pay a severance package so they do nasty things while staying legal about it.

 

They might reduce him to puppet, in effect demoting him, putting him in a corner office with nothing meaningful to do.  They might send him to a small, obscure company office or subsidiary in the middle of nowhere.  They might give him trivial work or very difficult, tedious work to get him frustrated enough to quit on this own.

 

If you sense that this is happening to you, write down your concerns and see an employment lawyer about it.

Hiring and Firing "At Will"

 

Hiring and firing at will, although not very popular among employees or governments for that matter nevertheless still exists because that's the way business is done.  Except for large companies that are bound by federal laws, most other employment is at will.

 

The employer hires you with the presumption that as long as you do your job well and the job exists, he will keep you but unless you have an employment contract, there are no guarantees and even then, there are still no guarantees. 

 

The company could fold, move or fire a bunch of people in cost-cutting measures and there is nothing much you can do about it. 

The concept is that if an employer hires you at will, it gives him the right to fire you anytime he wants with or without cause without prior notice.

 

In the states that honor employment at will, these laws are only valid as long as the employer doesn't nullify them with some other company regulation that gives them more rights and if they don't violate state and federal work statutes.

 

Employment at will is only valid when the company neither states nor implies any "employer-employee rights" regarding terminations.

 

There are exceptions to firing at will, such as:

 

Firing someone in violation of the company's employment contract.

 

Abusive discharge, the employer fires someone either for revenge against something the employee that was not wrong (he just didn't like it) or the employer decides he doesn't like the employee anymore and terminates him

 

Firing in violation of government laws granting employees certain rights with respect to leave.

 

Firing based on discrimination.

 

Even with at will policies in place, many employees are suing employers for unjust termination and winning so the best advice I can give is don't fire people without giving the benefit of your disciplinary process and document reasons why you think they're not performing up to standard.

 

When you hire someone and give them an At-Will Employment Agreement which they sign, they supposedly agree to this arrangement and the boss can fire them anytime he wants but defense lawyers have fought successfully against this rule in a number of cases such as:

 

Firing for discrimination contrary to discrimination laws.

 

Retaliation for a number of reasons such as whistleblowing, filing a worker's compensation claim, refusing to do illegal acts, organizing workers for a union and other lawful activities which management might frown on.

 

Firing a long-term employee just before pension kicks in violation of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

 

Violate implied contracts, promises you made to the employee.

 

Other things such as the employee declares bankruptcy, has Aids, looks sickly, is pregnant, is having his wages garnished for one reason or another usually child support or in a substance abuse program.

 

At-will termination differs from for-cause termination because it can be legally done without a just cause.  Some states frown on this practice and have outlawed it. 

 

If you sign and at-will agreement and feel you have been fired unjustly, get an employment lawyer and battle it out with the plaintiff's attorney.  It could go either way.  Every case is different.

 

Employers who want to use at-will agreements should make them as clear and upfront as possible.  Don't bury them in the paperwork. 

If you have a poor employee, even if you have the right to at-will termination, use progressive discipline in order to give him the chance to shape up or ship out.

 

Documenting Problem Employees

 

The first way to deal with problem employees is at the recruitment stage.  Do a good, thorough job of analyzing the individual face-to-face and do a background check.

 

Secondly, clearly state goals and objectives so there's no ambiguity about job responsibilities.  This is why a company manual is so important, so that everything is there crystal clear. 

If you have to train someone for the job, the more formal the training program is with a test at the end, the better for you, the employer, because if a new employee can't pass the tests, you can cut him off right there.

 

If the boss thinks you're generally slack but not a really bad person, when you go in for your Pers, they will hijack you with some kind of Unsatisfactory Performance Report/ Progressive Discipline Report along with a Formal Warning which is a paper they make you sign saying you realize you haven't been meeting the standard and have three months to shape up otherwise you will be placed on more severe probation and could be terminated.

 

The most common types of work problems are as follows:

 

Lateness.

 

Absenteeism.

 

Body odor.

 

Bad attitude.

 

Anti-social.

 

Immature.

 

Likes to embarrass others.

 

Tells inappropriate jokes.

 

Doesn't do the work.

 

Does the work half-assed.

 

Misses deadlines.

 

Lack of skills.

 

Doesn't understand what's required of him.

 

Doesn't have correct training or proper tools.

 

Personality conflict with boss or oher workers.

 

Family or personal problems.

 

Health problems, mental health problems.

 

Smokes in no smoking areas.

 

Drinks alcohol at lunch.

 

The worst thing you as a boss can do is ignore problem behavior.  Everybody has bad days.  Let occasional things slide but if it's continuous, be professional. 

 

Document all aspects of the issue which means write out incident reports anytime you see bad behavior and get other employees to write out what they witnessed. 

 

Talk the problem over.  Listen to the employee's side.  The first few times, don't impose disciplinary measures.  Give him a chance to correct the problem on his own.

 

If he doesn't get the hint, you have to write out a specific report called something like Formal Warning, Unsatisfactory Performance or Probationary Period where you explain where he's a screw up and what he must do to improve otherwise further action will be taken and he could be terminated.

 

Tell him he will be monitored more closely and meet with you every two weeks for the next three months to discuss his progress or lack of it. 

At the end of that time, you will review the case and make a decision as to whether to keep him on or go further down the path of termination, usually imposing a more severe do or die probationary period.

 

At the end of the period, you either tell him he is much improved, keep it up and get back to work, tell him you're still uncertain so he will be on probation for the next year or tell him he doesn't cut it so he's gone.

 

Firing Someone

 

If you have a bad employee, nip it in the bud.  Start the procedure to get rid of him or her rather than not deal with it because problem employees are bad for the company morale. 

 

If you have to fire somebody, don't do it for petty reasons because you will lose respect with the other workers.  Do it for job-related failure, nothing else because you will get in trouble if you fire someone for less than honorable reasons.

 

Fire them face to face.  Do it both verbally and with a written report which you give them to read and ask them to sign then you give them a copy and keep the other. 

 

Try to do it quickly at the end of the day.  Tell them to clean out their effects, give them their pay and severance check and get them out of there.

 

Be as civil and compassionate as you can even if you hate the employee you're firing.  Tell them why but be diplomatic saying something like, "It didn't work out." 

 

Never do it while you're angry.  Cool off if you're mad and think it through.  Always do it in private.  Call him in preferably at the end of the day when no one else is around, fire him so he doesn't have the embarrassment of facing the others. 

 

As soon as you're on the outs, everybody else will start to avoid you regardless of how good you were as friends.

 

If the worker pleads with you or cries, use discretion as to whether you will give them just one more chance but be firm about it.

 

There are laws regarding firing an employee.  In the U.S., it's dol.gov, in Canada, it's the Employee Standards Act of the Ministry of Labor, our.hrdc.gc.ca, 800-567-6866. 

 

You have to have just cause to fire someone and the best way is to keep personnel files on all employees documenting their exemplary behaviors, their negative behaviors and little indescretions like coming in late often, calling in sick, etc. 

 

If you dismiss an employee wrongfully, you could be charged under labor laws, human rights laws and civilly for defamation of character and wrongful termination.

 

Proactive firing is good sense.  You get rid of problems before they get a chance to cause extensive damage.

 

Everybody in the company usually knows when a colleague is not up to standard including the individual himself. 

 

Quick action is the best course of action and it gets the individual out of a situation he is not cut out for to move onto something better suited to him so, in my opinion, termination, like divorce is a good thing, because it shows where you're not meant to be.

 

Some reasons for involuntary terminations are as follows:

 

Your business may not be doing so hot.  Somebody has got to go.

 

Your business changes.  The old-timers can't seem to catch on to the new ways of doing things or don't'want to.

 

Bad attitude, talks too much, nuisance to other employees, farts out loud, smells bad, etc.

 

Can't or doesn't want to do the job.

 

Just cause reason that allow for immediate termination like disruption of the normal flow of business, criminal activity, sexual harassment, drunk on the job, discrimination, belligerent, obnoxious behavior, chronic absences and/ or lateness, compromise of safety in the workplace, long-term physical or mental illness that prevents the employee from carrying out the job most of the time, misuse of business property (surfing the internet for fun, using the company car for your own benefit, abusing the expense account, etc.).

 

The most common legitimate reasons for termination are:

 

Absenteeism and tardiness.

 

Broke company rules.

 

Didn't do the job expected of them.

 

Bad attitude, threatened other employees, rude behavior, etc.

 

Committed a crime, stole something.

 

Termination of an employee must be done for a legitimate reason in order to avoid a possible wrongful termination lawsuit. 

 

In addition to paying compensation and punitive damages in one of these lawsuits where the employer loses, in some cases, they can be charged for violating certain federal statutes.

 

Legally, in order to cover yourself, you must first warn problem employees about their shortcomings and give them a chance to correct them. 

 

If they don't improve satisfactorily, you must give reasonable notice of termination, about two weeks and pay them for that time regardless of whether you want them to work or not. 

If you want him to leave him immediately, draft up a check for the next two weeks, give it to him and tell him he's not welcome here anymore.

 

First off, write out your job performance responsibilities and unsatisfactory job performance procedures clearly in your company manual and make all new employees read it so they can't later say they never got one or were never told to read it.  Some companies have a test on the company manual that new workers must pass if they're to work there. 

 

Keep comprehensive records of all work incidents; both satisfactory and unsatisfactory work, lateness, misconduct, anger, shoddy work, etc.

 

Offer a "correction" procedure in an escalated way.  First you file an unsatisfactory report, a written report describing their unsatisfactory behavior. 

 

Bring the employee in, tell him or her they screwed up, get them to read the report, sign it then give them a copy.  Tell him or her you will be watching them more carefully to see if they improve which they must. 

 

In the next three months, they either ship up or continue in the same manner whereupon you bring them in again and give them a formal warning, a more serious written report.  This is their last chance.  If they screw up they're gone.

 

Give the problem employee written warnings advising him or her of the standard of competence required.  You must advise employee that  their job is in jeopardy and tell him  exactly what he or she must do to shape up. 

 

Give the employee a reasonable opportunity to improve.  Give him adequate training or even retrain him if you must to cover your butt.

 

When it's time for termination, you must show the employee and cover your butt at the same time exactly what he or she did that was so detrimental to the company and tell him that he was incompetent in his duties. 

 

In order to be legally covered, you have to show that you did not contribute materially to the employee's incompetence, that the incompetence is not temporary but an ongoing thing and show that he or she does not have any recent positive evaluations, letters, salary increases or bonuses that could contradict the termination.  Evaluations for the past year or so should be all bad to corroborate the termination.

 

Check company policy and the law to determine whether your grounds for termination are legal.  Put it on the Termination Notice, that he is being fired because his conduct goes against rule 8, clause 2 and cite any legal laws, if applicable.

 

Conduct an exit interview to explain to the employee why he's being fired and explain why the company has a legal right to do this. 

 

The best way to do this is to have some packing boxes or garbage bags ready, have a security guard with you then wait until the end of the day, tell him you want to see him in your office in 15 minutes. 

 

Hopefully, everyone will be gone by then so you can do it quickly to avoid him embarassment and you a possible scene. 

 

Tell him, get him to sign the Termination Notice, tell him to pack his things immediately, have his paperwork and severance pay ready then tell him he is not allowed on company property unless it's for official business.

 

The termination contract should have everything relevant on it like reasons for termination, severance pay amount, covenants regarding company secrecy, competition and anything else relevant.

 

If you are going to be fired, review your employment contract, find out who made the decision and WHY you are being fired, ask for a copy of your personnel file, think back to any oral promises made to you, request a meeting to negotiate your severance package, get it in writing, apply for unemployment insurance, take legal action if your employer is blacklisting you, return all company property and take legal action with a labor attorney if applicable.

 

Sometimes, compassionate managers offer employees they're about to fire a chance to resign by mutual consent which simply make it look better on their resumes and might give them a slightly better severance package with a few weeks more pay.

 

If resigning from a job, do it properly with a courteous letter.

 

The Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notice Act/ WARN is for workers of plants that shut down.

 

An employee who is still in the initial probationary period after being hired is not entitled to any notice.

 

There may be statutory laws in your area about what to pay terminated employees upon their severance.  Some employers give a few hundred dollars bonus simply because they hope the employee will go away and not file a wrongful termination lawsuit which always costs the employer money whether he wins or not.

 

Generally, there is no legal obligation for a company to pay severance unless it's stated in the written employment contract or in the company manual. 

 

Where severance is offered, it should be consistent with the severances other employees in equal or similar positions get.

 

If you are fired or terminated, try not to accept the company's first offer and negotiate for more on the grounds of decency and fair play.  Don't be aggressive and threatening.  Just say you worked hard for the company, you deserve some payback since you're trying to raise three kids.  Threaten to sue.

 

If you ask for a lot, you will get some of what you asked for.  Get it in writing.  Don't accept a patronizing pat on the back with a mild comment about everything working out.

 

If you want a good letter of reference, don't rely on your ex-boss's promises that he will write you one up.  Write your own, give it to him and ask him to sign it.

 

You have rights.  Don't let them intimidate you into early retirement if you don't want it, particularly if early retirement causes you to lose large financial benefits that you would get if you stay on for a few more years.  Read everything they give you before you sign it.

 

If you're worried about getting sued for wrongful termination, consult an employment lawyer about the case.

 

Try to be civil and when terminating people.  keep it simple and brief.  Don't tell them they're spazzes.  Just say it didn't work out.  They will find their niche in life elsewhere.

 

Do the termination in private.

 

Collect company property such as keys, equipment, or tools.

 

Terminate the employee's purchasing privileges and company credit cards.

 

If you're feeling generous, offer a letter of reference and help the individual in finding a new job.  Most references in termination cases say only that the person worked for the company for the period specified. 

 

Legally, if they say more, they can be sued for wrongful termination whilst giving a positive recommendation or saying something negative about the employee.  If you have nothing good to say, say nothing.

 

You could offer to pay for a session with an executive recruiter sometimes called outplacement support.

 

Have all the paperwork ready like his employment record which you give him a copy of, payroll record (for unemployment insurance), pay him what you owe him in salary, severance benefits and vacation pay.

 

Notify the insurance carrier that he is no longer covered.

 

You could tell other employees that Joe got fired but they know anyway.  Your best bet if somebody asks is just say, "Joe won't be with us any longer."

 

If the employee was terminated because of some big scandal or something like that, you might want to gather all employees for a meeting, tell them Joe was creating phony suppliers and cashing the checks he wrote to them and he will be charged criminally for embezzlement.  It's your call whether it would be useful to tell your employees or not.

 

Sometimes, if the employee is well liked and people don't know why he was terminated, it might be a good idea to tell the others (employees, customers, colleagues in other businesses) he was accessing child porn websites on his computer or whatever it was he was doing just to clear the air.

 

Try #658.311 or HF5549.5 at the library for books about hiring and firing from the manager's point of view.

 

accounting.smartpros.com/x31775.xml, what not to say when firing a worker.

 

allbusiness.com

allbusiness.com/hiring-firing-forms/3472190-1.html, hiring and firing forms.

amacombooks.org

bnet.com//worker.html

bnet.com/2403-13056_23-59304.html

cch.com

cjbaxtergroup.com/resources/59303firingthelaw.pdf, firing and the law.

doingbusiness.org/exploretopics/employingworkers/

employment-law.freeadvice.com/firing/

forbes.com/work/2006/04/25/business-basics-firing-cx_sr_0427fire.html

joanlloyd.com/articles/open.asp?art=271.htm

lowellsun.com/lifestyles/ci_6612140, no need to feel guilt over firing careless worker.

nolo.com

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002278753_complaint18m.html

staples.com/sbd/content/article/e-h/firing.html

the seattle times: local news: naacp seeks firing of school worker

theemployeesite.net

toolkit.cch.com/text/p05_8190.asp, employers can be sued for improperly firing employees, they also can be sued for failing to fire.

uschamber.com/sb/p05/p05_8101.asp, what are the major laws and legal restrictions that limit your right to fire?

workerdaily.com/2007/03/26/the-why-and-how-of-firing-clients/

 

Getting Fired

 

Job loss is a fact of life.  It could be that the company has to downsize to stay alive.  In companies with 50 or more employees, they have to give 60 days advance notice for a lay-off.

 

You could be a lousy worker or the boss could simply think you're a jack-ass and not like you.  Likeability is probably more important than job ability on a primal level. 

 

If you're a conformist "yes" man, the boss will like you more than the maverick who always wants to do it his way and acts like an arrogant Mr. Know-it-all.

 

Keep your feelers out all the time to sense the vibe about you from others.  Are they excluding you or are you part of the in-crowd?  Be sociable even if you don't like your co-workers or your boss.

 

Before you can be fired, there is supposed to be a chain of progressive discipline a company puts a worker through to give him chances to improve before being fired.  If it is a serious offense like violence, criminal activity, theft, etc., you can legally be fired on the spot.

 

For sloppy work or a general bad attitude, you might be given a reprimand, formal warning or a probationary period where you're scrutinized more closely than usual and if you don't shape up, they have the paperwork documentation to get rid of you.

 

Along with your employment contract, keep a paper record of all the work you do, all the memos you send and all the paperwork of any hassles or disciplinary reports the boss gives you. 

 

Document all confrontations and personality conflicts.  Even if the boss blames your performance, speak up if you think he just doesn't like you.

 

If he's trying to force you out, stand some ground so he knows he can't run over you.  Of course, you don't want to work where you're not wanted but stand tough to get a good severance deal. 

 

Send him a memo with your conditions for termination.  If he doesn't have a good reason to fire you, you have some leverage in getting a good severance package.

 

Often, bosses try to get rid of employees they don't like but can't legally fire by giving them a new position which is essentially a demotion away from the main action of the workplace with light, routine, almost meaningless work in order to demean the employee so much that he quits on his own but when this happens, write him a letter telling him where he's violating his work contract with you. 

 

Tell him you're willing to leave but not without a good severance package.  Start looking for a new job and talk to an employment lawyer immediately.

 

If the company cries about losing money and tries to get away by offering you a modest settlement, don't be afraid to hire an employment lawyer and take legal action against them. 

 

If the company is taken over or goes bankrupt, contact an employment lawyer to see what your options are.

 

If you don't particularly like to work somewhere, know the boss doesn't like you and the company is going nowhere, you can engineer your own termination by looking for another job and writing a letter to your boss saying you don't feel appreciated for your work and would like to talk to him about resolving the situation. 

 

When he invites you in, tell him you deserve a raise and a promotion and when he says no, tell him you feel discriminated against because you're you and he doesn't like you and tell him you will leave if he offers you a reasonably good severance package.

 

Whatever you do, it's always a good idea to get professional advice from an employment lawyer.  Rather than lose your cool or let the boss intimidate you, negotiate your way out of it. 

 

There are compensatory laws in place to help you get your just due.  Prepare your demands in writing, give them to your boss then he will write out a counter-offer and you might go back and forth for awhile.  As long as you reach a mutual agreement, it's just part of the game.

 

The most common reasons for getting fired are:

 

Can't do the job.

 

Aren't keeping up with changes in the field.

 

Don't get along with people.

 

Too slow and clumsy.

 

Absenteeism.

 

Lateness.

 

The most common reason that's illegal is that the boss simply doesn't like you and if this is the case, he will always find some way to get rid of you that looks legal.

 

If you're fired unjustly and the boss doesn't think you deserve a severance package, you could fight it but it's a tedious process of going to civil court and there are no guarantees. 

 

If you win, you could win good damages for wrongful dismissal.  Beyond compensatory damages, there are punitive damages which could be high to punish the company, damages for mental distress, libel, slander, loss of reputation, discrimination and violation of contract.

 

If you have a good job, be a good worker so you don't have to worry about getting fired.  When an employment contract goes bad, about the worse thing that can happen besides getting fired is to lose severance pay. 

 

Look back over the contract to see if the employer can withhold severance pay for any reasons.  Follow the rules meticulously and build up proof that you're doing a good job. 

 

Most companies have a procedure they have to follow before firing you.  You have rights about being fired unjustly.  If you feel you were fired unjustly, contact your local American Civil Liberties Union, aclu.org, for advice.

 

They can't promise you job security then fire you.  Read your employment contract over to see if the company violated it.  Ask your boss for the exact reason and determine if it's fair then act accordingly. 

 

Find out if it's personal or professional.  They just can't fire you because they don't like you.  There has to be a legitimate basis of incompetency.  Ask to see your file to determine how your performance evaluations were in the past few years. 

 

If they were good, there's an inconsistency there.  Negotiate to get a fair severance package.  You don't have to take early retirement if you don't want to.

 

If your boss tries to fire you unjustly, get samples of your work and ask other employees to speak up for you although this may be hard since they're worried about their jobs too. 

 

Employers aren't allowed to fire you if you're on the verge of getting benefits for time spent on the job and they want to save some money. 

You can't be fired for taking time off from work due to a legitimate injury or medical illness. 

 

You can't be fired for whistle blowing (Whistle-blower Protection Act), maternity leave, National Guard, jury duty or voting.

 

If your boss is trying to fire you because of something like you're nearing ten years in the company and that means he will have to pay retirement benefits, that's illegal and you can fight it in court. 

If you're going anyway, get what you can out of it.  Use the last few days to make long distance calls, steal pencils, etc.  Apply for unemployment immediately.

 

It's a two-way street.  The boss isn't always wrong.  Make sure you're pulling your weight and aren't just a chronic whiner because he could have his paper trail and witnesses too.

 

There are mandatory retirement laws such that even if you're capable and want to work you still have to retire.

 

When you start your new job, learn from the mistakes of the past.

 

If you really want to keep the job, become a great, new happily motivated person but start looking around for other jobs on the side.

 

Books about employee issues are at #331.25 or HF5549 at the library.

 

Try #658.311 or HF5549.5 at the library for books about hiring and firing from the manager's point of view.

 

Getting Fired Websites

 

rightonthemoney.org/shows/401_layoff, layoff survival kit.

amacombooks.com, book discipline without amazon.com/getting-fired-restructured-discharged-terminated/dp/0446608564

askmen.com/money/career/31_career.html

asktheheadhunter.com/hagettingfired.htm

careerbuilder.com/jobseeker/careerbytes

careerjoy.com

careerpath.com/advice/194608-getting-fired-was-the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-me

careerplanner.com/career-articles/so_you_lost_your_job.htm cartoonstock.com/directory/g/getting_fired.asp

courttv.com/legalcafe/work/fired/fired_links.html

getting fired cartoons.

hispanicsuccess.com/hispanic-getting-fired.htm

iusedtobelieve.com/grown_ups/work/getting_fired

job.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/salary/a/fired.htm

kissmyfreckledassgoodbye.com

lectlaw.com/files/emp43.htm

punishment.

quintcareers.com/getting_fired.html

shrm.org

simplyfired.com, true, usually funny or surprising stories about losing a job.

vault.com/messages/pricewaterhousecoopers/pricewaterhousecoopers-1681789.html

workplacefairness.org/getting-fired

wrongfuldischarge1.blogspot.com

 

Illegal Termination

 

There are many laws to protect workers from being fired unfairly even if they were hired without a written contract, generally called "hired at will." 

 

Being hired at will should give the manager the right to terminate you whenever he wants but employment attorneys have successfully fought these cases in recent years. 

 

To stay legal, employers should stick with the progressive discipline route as already discussed such that they have a paper trail of documentation in order to justify firing the employee with just cause.

 

Employers just can't fire people for a phony reason in order to save themselves some money for the real reason.  For instance, there was this one employer who liked to keep employees for about 15 years but somehow found a reason to fire them all before they had twenty years in in order to keep from paying them pension benefits.

 

Most people took it without fighting but a friend of mine didn't.  He sued the guy, proved that he didn't do anything wrong to justify being fired and proved this guy had a track record of firing people shortly before their twenty years were up.

 

If you signed a written employment contract, reread it to see exactly what they say about termination.  Many employers routinely violate their own contracts when terminating somebody.

 

As you work for any company, keep all copies of performance reviews, especially if they're good and any other citations you receive.  You can't have good performance reviews for five years then all of a sudden, your boss calls you an incompetent slacker and fires you.  It's not consistent.  Your track record proves you're not slack.  Unless you have become a desperate drug addict lately, your boss is in the wrong.

 

Companies can't fire you to deprive you of vested pension rights or other expected financial benefits.

 

Companies can't fire you because of illness, pregnancy, or jury duty.

 

Companies can't fire you because you have been a whistleblower or complained about a safety violation or ethical wrongdoing.

 

Companies can't fire you on a whim just because they feel like it.  They need a legitimate reason.

 

Companies can't fire you because of age, gender or minority status.

 

Companies can't fire a large number of workers and/or close a plant without a minimum of 60 days' notice or 60 days' severance pay.

 

Companies can't fire you if you received a written or verbal promise of job security for x amount of time.  You have to prove this though which could be hard if the guy promised you over the phone that he would keep you for a year no matter what then when you got there, he decides he doesn't like you and lets you go.  Record phone calls and get witnesses.

 

Companies can't fire you with inconsistent disciplinary action that is much harsher than others who have commited similar transgressions.  If Joe Blow is caught drinking beer on the job and gets a warning but then you're caught and you get fired, that's a case of inconsistent disciplinary actions.

 

An employee cannot be fired for the following reasons:

 

Bankruptcy status.

 

Disclosure of a condition of illiteracy.

 

Enrollment in an alcohol or drug abuse program.

 

Called out for military service as member of the Reserve or National Guard.

 

Infected with HIV or Aids.

 

Pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.

 

Refusal to take a lie detector test.

 

Wage garnishment such as with alimony payments.

 

Working with the union.

 

An employer can't fire a longtime employee for a trivial reason just before he's eligible for accrued benefits like pension.

 

Fired due to a legitimate illness or absence from work including maternity/ paternity leave.

 

You can't be fired for public policy like sitting on a jury during jury duty or not showing up to work on a legal holiday.

 

You can't be fired for serving in the military or for voting.

 

Whistle blowing/ Whistle Blower's Protection Acts both state and federal.

 

Attempting to unionize, complaining about health and safety violations.

 

Off work legal activism/ activities of any kind.

 

Fired swiftly in violation of company firing rules.

 

Massive layoff without a minimum of 60 days notice.

 

Fired after a verbal promise of job security or other inducements that went unfulfilled.

 

Fired in violation of union rules.

 

If you're part of a union, refer to their Collective Bargaining Agreement.  The state laws are all different.  If you feel you've been wrongfully terminated, contact a local branch of the EEOC, possibly a legal aid service in your area, a labor lawyer or check out state labor law at a library.  Some of the most common wrongful firings are:

 

Legal contract which promised a certain duration of employment.

 

Promissory estoppel, an employer induces you to take a job which means a loss for you like relocation, quitting another good job.

 

Violation of  a covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

 

If the company wants you to resign for one resign for one reason or another, don't sign anything without you or your lawyer reading it over.  You may be waiving your claim to unemployment and other severance benefits.

 

With a resignation or termination, the company may offer you a severance deal.  Refuse their first offer.  Negotiate for more before you're willing to resign.

 

Wrongful Dismissal/ Wrongful Termination

 

A lot of companies get sued for wrongful dismissal.  The employee thinks he or she was terminated for unreasonable grounds and often, beyond suing the company, individual managers are sued as well for what is sometimes called bad faith.  There is some case law supporting these types of lawsuits but as of now, no specific statutes.

 

wrongful-termination-lawyer.com

 

Quit Gracefully

 

Take this job and shove it.

 

If you have a new job offer for more money and better benefits, don't just quit your present job right off without notice or in any sort of impolite way because your new job could backfire or you might need these people someday for a new job or a reference so don't burn your bridges.  If you're really good about it, your boss might make you an offer to keep you.

 

Don't do anything rash until you're positive you've got the new job.  Oral agreements can be taken back.  Written agreements can be cancelled.  You could sue them in civil court but you still don't have a job. 

Don't leave your old boss hanging.  Give him a week or two notice and finish up whatever you were working on. 

If it's a formal, white collar job, give him a letter of resignation along with telling him.  If it's any other type of job, just tell him you're quitting.  He'll want to know why so tell him why.

 

Take care of stuff like pension payments, health insurance, unused vacation days, retirement savings plans, etc.

 

Be friendly with coworkers.  Tell them you're quitting and where you're going.

 

In white collar jobs, there is often the formality of an exit interview.  This is on the books in virtually every human resources manual.  I don't get it myself.  If you're leaving, you're leaving.  Why do you have to talk to your ex-boss?  He or she is supposed to wish you good luck and say no hard feelings, life is a game, I understand what's goin' on.  They conduct these regardless of whether you're getting fired or quitting on your own.

 

Most people quit for either of two reasons:

 

Got a better job or am changing careers.

 

Hate this job.  It's horrible.

 

If you hate the job and it's a big company, you could try for a transfer rather than just leaving outright.

 

i-resign.com, non-quitting options (work-leave, vacations); sample

resignation letters

restaurantvoice.com/career-q-and-a/job_quitting_etiquette.html change.monster.com/articles/leaving_job/

associatedcontent.com/article/177481/how_to_quit_your_job.html

bankrate.com/brinkadv/news/advice/20030113a.asp, make a graceful exit.

blogthings.com/shouldyouquityourjobquiz/

careerjournal.com/myc/climbing/20060221-needleman.html

careerplanning.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/quittingyourjob/a/when_to_quit.htm

careers.wsj.com/jobhunting/jungle/20050505-jungle.html, quit gracedully.

coachingforyournextlevel.com

dailyblogtips.com/7-reasons-to-quit-your-job/

fastcompany.com/articles/2007/08/how-to-quit-your-job.html

humanresources.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/od/whenemploymentends/a/quit_job.htm

iquit.org

i-resign.com

i-resign.com/uk/workinglife

isnare.com/eta.php?aid=13008

jobsearch.                            dead website, try dotdash.com, thebalance.com and thoughtco.com
/cs/careerresources/a/resign.htm

lime.com/radio/be_happy_dammit/audio/12530/when_should_you_quit_a_job medi-smart.com/quitjob.htm

resigningfromajob.seoprotools.com

iquit.org

stereogum.com/archives/cat_quit_your_day_job.html

uselectionatlas.org/forum/index.php, how do you feel when you quit a job.

youtube.com, type in quit your job.

 

Voluntary Termination/ Resigning

 

Voluntary termination happens when an employee decides to leave the company for whatever reason.  He writes a termination letter, hands it in, usually offering to work for the next two weeks as a courtesy while the boss looks for a replacement. 

 

This is called a Notice Period but the boss might want him out of there immediately so he will tell him he might as well get out. 

Bosses often do this because they don't want people on the outs hanging around polluting the company with their vibes.

 

If the employee offers to work during the notice period but the boss doesn't want him and it is a rule in the company manual, the boss is obligated to pay the employee's salary and benefits for those two weeks anyway.

 

Other than that, they agree to a final settlement of pay, there might be an exit interview where each side sucks up to the other in case they need each other at some point in the future and that's it.  Good bosses and good workers are very wary abour burning bridges because they never know when they will come across this person again.

 

If the person is leaving because he got a better job, the boss might make a new offer in order to try to keep the employee.

 

All in all, an exit interview provides the employer with a chance to find out why the employee is leaving and may learn something about his own company that he might be able to improve upon.

 

i-resign.com

sample-resignation-letters.com

 

Protect Yourself in Case of Termination

 

Even the greatest workers lose their jobs when the company downsizes or goes bankrupt.  If you're in daily fear that your job could be the next one to go, create your back-up now.  You have five main options:

 

Go to school on the side, learn a skill.  Take e-learning classes.

 

Look for a higher-paying job right now.

 

Get a part-time job.

 

Downsize.  Buy a smaller house, smaller car, get rid of a bunch of stuff.  Live simpler.  Use the money-saving tips in my other books.

 

Avoid the stress-anger trap.  Stay cool.

 

Maybe your wife or one of your kids can get a job to help out.

 

You create your future.  Don't wait until you get laid off then can't make mortgage payments.

 

Concerns About Job Security

 

If there's a recession or hard times and they're laying off people one by one, the job experts say go see your boss and gently ask him where you stand in the pecking order.

 

I say don't bother.  Keep working hard but at the same time, prepare for the next chapter of your life.  Either take courses online or at night while working to upgrade or go into a new trade or start looking and interviewing for a new job.

 

Don't live in fear of losing your job.  Do everything you can while you have the job to be ready in case you lose it.

To me it seems weak or brown-nosey to go into the boss's office and snivel about how much you need your job more than anyone else does when you don't even know if you're on the chopping block.

 

I say keep your mouth shut and keep working.

 

Chapter 6. Downsizing/ Lay-offs

 

Downsizing/ Lay-offs 1

 

In the United States, downsizing means cutting employees.  In Japan, it means everybody stays but they all take a pay cut.

 

Technically speaking, a lay-off is a downsizing of the entire company due to a major problem with the company's business or the economy. It's not an individual matter where you're firing an individual for insubordination or something like that.

 

Sometimes it's impossible to avoid cutting your workforce.  The biggest problem after the lay-off is what is the morale of employees left. When you plan for a layoff, get your financial obligations to terminated employees straight so you're ready with the checks when you lower the boom in order to keep them happy and to get them out the door as fast as possible without letting their grumbling affect the remaining workers too much.

 

If you employ more than one hundred people and plan big lay-offs or plant closings, you will be subject to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act/ Warn. 

You have to give sixty days notice to employees before you let them go or show cause why you can't.

 

If you have a work force larger than twenty, you're probably bound by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconcilia Act/ COBRA which means they have the right to continued access to their health insurance coverage for about 18 months as long as they continue to make monthly payments.

 

If you have a pension plan or a severance plan, refer to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act/ Erisa for more information.

 

Before you proceed with a lay-off, run it by your accountant and your lawyer to make sure you're staying legal.

 

Downsizing creates anxiety.  Everybody's afraid of getting fired.  Give your good employees long-term contracts to keep them happy. 

The best way to get rid of people is to offer generous terms; a good severance package, an outplacement service to help them find a new job and early retirement options. 

If you start a firing bloodbath, your employee morale will plummet to zero.  People, above all else, care about their work security and benefits.  Offer these to good employees plus opportunities for advancement.  If you have to downsize, at least treat your workers with dignity during the firing process.

 

The traditional path of being a stable company with employees guaranteed their jobs for life if they want is all but gone for a number of reasons.  There are all kinds of reasons for downsizing and lay-offs.

 

Foreign competition, other competition.

 

Higher energy or raw material costs.

 

Investors aren't happy so they bring in a hatchet man as the new CEO who lays a bunch of people off, get the stock price up then they sell.

 

Investors want quick money.

 

Legitimate turnaround or restructuring attempt.

 

Merger.

 

Technology and productivity improvement.

 

A lay-off as opposed to a termination is not a personal decision.  It is caused by a situation in the company which makes the boss decide it's best to reduce the workforce or eliminate some positions.  You're not gunning to get rid of a certain employee.  You're downsizing as a business decision.

 

After you decide to eliminate a certain position or several positions, there are rules you must follow as to who you will lay off.  You just can't eliminate the person you like the least. 

You're supposed to eliminate the person or people who are least qualified to take on the job responsibilities of the positions that are left.  The general criteria are:

 

Seniority, time on the job.

 

Status (temporary employees go before fulltime employees).

 

Merit, education level, general skill, attitude, attendance, etc.

 

And, if you eliminate a position and get rid of an employee then three months later recreate the position, that could be construed as an illegal termination in disguise and could get you in trouble.  A year is considered the minimum to wait if you don't want to get charged for illegal termination.

 

Some employers try to lay-off substandard workers rather than go through the entire probation-termination process.  The problem with this is that in legal terms, a lay-off is the elimination of a position or positions not the elimination of certain individuals. 

 

Be careful if you take this route.  It could backfire you in the form of a lawsuit.  In general, if you have bad employees, eliminate them the proper way, by going through a disciplinary process.

 

If a company decides to eliminate certain positions or departments and replace them by outsourcing the work, hiring independent contractors, unless the employees have a union with some kind of agreement in place, there's nothing they can legally do about it.

 

When terminating employees, you are obligated to provide a final W-2 form for tax purposes.  If the employee requests it, you have to provide it within thirty days of the final work day.  If not, you should give them out in January along with all the other ones for your remaining staff.

 

There are some possible feasible alternatives to a lay-off:

 

Offer a cut in pay.

 

Offer fewer hours per week.

 

Ask employees to come up with solutions on how to increase business, job share, develop a new product line or find other ways to stay in business profitably.

 

Check with your state unemployment insurance office to see if your people can work for you part-time and get some unemployment insurance at the same time.

 

Help employees be more employable by subsidizing education outside the company and offer job searching classes as well as an outplacement agency which is basically an employment counselor/ recruiter hybrid who help outgoing employees find worthy new jobs. 

Even for employees you're not laying off, give them some kind of career/ job training so they will know what's going on should something ever happen to them.

 

Set up workers at retraining programs in community colleges and trade schools and send them to the state employment office to register for employment and learn how to use the system.

 

Be as open and honest as you can about the lay-offs and what the situation will be afterwards.  The more involved your employees are in decisions about the company, the more motivated they will be to try to make a go of it. 

 

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act/ WARN Act applies to companies with 100+ employees.  Employers must notify them 60 days before a lay-off and offer other compensations like retraining into another career.

 

Getting rid of bad employees is justifiable but lay-offs are often beyond everybody's control.  The customers aren't buying, the economy is in a downturn. 

 

The best way to do it is like a man.  Call a meeting, tell them striaght up what's going on, tell them about pay, packing their stuff, retraining, etc. 

If you offer an outplacement service, tell them about it. 

 

Kennedyinfo.com, 800-531-0007, sells the book The Directory of Outplacement and Career Management Firms which lists firms that do this type of service for companies laying people off.

 

If the company is any good, it will offer the departing workers some severance pay, training and re-employment assistance. 

 

Downsizing/ Lay-offs 2

 

The major forms of downsizing are as follows:

 

Cut the dividends and profit pay-outs.

 

Reduce the salaries and bonuses of the top managers.

 

Reduce management staff.

 

Offer early retirement to some workers.  Offer a severance pay buy-out option to some workers.  Ask some workers to take a sabbatical, unpaid leave from the job.  Reduce worker staff. 

Ask workers to take a cut in pay.

 

The ones left behind will have to do more work in an uncertain climate, wondering when their time is coming.

 

Psychologically and spiritually, downsizing could be the worst thing for a company because right when it wants to get more competitive, efficient and productive, it puts a dagger into the morale of its workers by making them an angry, depressed, cynical bunch feeling the company has betrayed them, that they're just expendable pawns and could easily follow the same fate as their recently laid off compatriots.

 

Even managers don't have job security.  How do you expect to help and inspire your workers when you have survivor anxiety too.  a lot of managers feel guilty and bear the brunt of scorn from their workers when the truth is that the decision was made in some bigshot's office far away from them.

 

The best way to deal with all this turmoil if you sincerely want to keep the company going is to have a big meeting of all lay-off survivors and their managers explain that upper management did what they felt was right, you know they're all angry and depressed.

 

The middle managers are taking a lot of slack from both sides but tell them you want the company to get healthy again.

 

They have to put the past behind, look to the future, you really want the company to succeed.  Offer a counselling service for workers who feel depressed, angry, stressed out.

 

Tell them to take it easy on their managers.  Offer something for their own interests like a profit-sharing plan next year or a $1000 bonus in their 401 (k)s if they work hard for the next year. 

 

Leave them with the impression that this is the way it is, you're trying to make the company better for the future.

 

There's even a mental health-medical term coming onto the scene called Lay-Off Survivor Sickness even though there's a lot of denial in it so offer the employees who stay some kind of counselling, a stress class, maybe a monthly forum where they can go and air out their problems with members of the management team.

 

In general, the average worker gets complacent in his job, figures he will be there for life so he shuts everything else out until the company is in danger and his livelihood is threatened.

 

The best solution is for a company to constantly offer employee incentives to educate themselves and offer seminars on how to be successful, how to succeed in the world so that the worker can buffer himself from being so dependent on his company should something happen.

 

Some companies will pay 50% of the tuition of any college class any employee takes in any field, no questions asked or they offer upgrading in their field by contracting with a technical school to come onsite and offer nightly classes every week or something like that.

 

Offer workshops in investing, home buying, etc. in order to empower the workers to be responsible for their own lives, not be like a bunch of immature kids looking to father (the company) for all their answers like the citizens of Russia were after communism fell.

 

Encourage them to keep their work skills up to date for their own sake.  You don't have to tell them it's in case the company goes bust but make it a healthy ideology that you want empowered workers to stay current with the technology.

 

In some ways, lay-off survivor sickness is like post traumatic stress syndrome in that the survivors feel guilty they're still there and others gone while bearing unresolved anger at the company for having done this to them.  You have to engender an attitude which:

 

breaks them away from the past legacy of the company the way it was.

 

they have to realize their identities are separate and distinct from the company.  They have to be strong and flexible enough to create a life outside of the company and leave to find another job if the must.

 

They have to enter into a new uncharted period of optimism and growth.

 

There are generally four stages to doing a downsizing the right way without alienating the workers:

 

Do it compassionately with plenty of advice and time for retiring or looking for another job.

 

have your big meeting, send memos around telling them you relate, feel their pain, that it's a sad situation all around, you understand their feelings and offer some kind of "grief" counselling and a bit of time to get over it.

 

Come out with your new paradigm of "A New Company for a New Era."  Get an attitude of optisim and positive change going.

 

Put incentives in place to get them motivated like profit sharing, upgrading skills, new uniforms, Friday afternoons off, a new break lounge, free peanuts and soda, paying for 50% of their children's college tuition, etc.

 

If you lie once and they find out, you lose all your credibility so stay straight with them all the time.

 

Offer some kind of incentives to employees to enrich their lives outside of the job like free memberships at the local gym, free passes to the movies or the local campground or free classes through the local continuing education program simply to get them somewhat away from the codependency relationship with the company and see there are other worlds out there.

 

Give the employees more power in deciding how the company should be run.  Give them more autonomy.  Get rid of the old dinosaurs. 

Promote based on achievement not on seniority.  Offer bonuses for increasing group production.  Make it easy for them to leave and try their luck elsewhere. 

The more new blood that comes in after a lay-

off, the better it is because they're fresh, untainted by the negative past.

 

Speak and act from the heart.Be a people person.  Make it look as though you really care about the company and the workers and not just the bottom line. 

Tell them you will do the best you can but no company can promise lifetime security anymore.

 

Try #302.35 or HM131 at the library for books about organizational changes.  Try #658.311 or HF5449.5 for books about lay-offs.

 

Downsizing Websites/ Lay-off Websites

 

joblossguide.net, job loss guide network.

academon.com/lib/essay/managing-union-environment.html

acs.appstate.edu/dept/ps-cj/vitadownsize.html

amazon.com/responsible-restructuring-creative-profitable-alternatives/dp/1576751295, book about downsizing.

blythe.org/nytransfer-subs/labor/us_airlines, _government, _declare_war_on_workers

cpsr.org/prevsite/program/workplace/cpu.009.html

extension.usask.ca/cjuce/articles/v23pdf/2315.pdf

ezinearticles.com/?expert=joe_love

intelperspective.blogspot.com

larval-subjects.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html, the middle class worker working for the corporation encounters lay-offs every few years.

latestautoinsurancetips.info/autoinsurance-insight-why+has+a+work+at+home+paradigm+shift+occurred- section-1-id-488.html

mallenbaker.net/csr/nl/4.html

m-cc.nl/doyouwantthenolayoffspayoff.pdf

sasknetwork.ca/html/employers/workplace/downsizing.htm socresonline.org.uk/6/4/canaan.html, new logic of downsizing.

uhuh.com/reports/headsup/hu63.htm