4 Most Common Mistakes Employers Make When Terminating Staff

Notifying an employee that they are to be terminated is never a pleasant experience. However, while this is a difficult situation, you need to ensure that you handle things correctly and follow the correct procedures. Failing to terminate staff members correctly, could result in you being liable and your employee taking their case to a team of wrongful termination lawyers, which is something you will certainly want to avoid. 

There is a lot that can go wrong when you are letting an employee go. However, some issues are more common than others and show up time and time again. Having an understanding of some of the most common mistakes employers make when firing an employee will help to ensure that you don’t slip up the same way. If you find yourself in the unfortunate situation that you have to terminate one of your employees, you can be confident that you are keeping everything above board and following best practices so everyone is treated fairly. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes employers make when terminating staff so you don’t make the same mistakes. 

Failing To Give Enough Notice

In Australia, there is a minimum mandatory period of notice that must be given when you are terminating a part-time or full-time employee. Section 117 of the Fair Work Act 2009 provides a sliding scale of the notice that should be provided to an employee that is being dismissed. This ranges from one week to five weeks and is dependent on both the staff member’s age and their length of employment in your company. Regardless of whether the employee is being terminated due to poor performance, misconduct, redundancy or any other reason, the right amount of notice must be given. 

Miscalculating Termination Pay

The rules surrounding termination pay are rather complex. Some areas in particular such as whether or not annual leave, personal leave or long-service leave should be paid, are regular causes for concern for business owners. As a general overview, annual leave should be paid out when an employee is terminated, personal leave is not required to be paid and long-service leave payments are typically dependent on a number of different factors. To ensure that you make the right termination payments to any employees you are terminating, be sure to seek out the appropriate professional advice. 

Not Following The Correct Dismissal Procedure

Regardless of why an employee might be let go, you must be sure that you follow the correct steps to ensure you provide the employee with procedural fairness. Failing to follow the right steps can land you in legal trouble down the line should your employee decide to take a case against you. 

The Fair Work Act 2009 states that an employer must have a valid reason to dismiss an employee such as poor performance or misconduct. The employer must then host a series of disciplinary hearings and provide the employee with warnings. Any allegations of misconduct should be investigated thoroughly and they should be given a chance to address any allegations against them. It’s also important that the employee is given adequate written notice of all meetings and be made aware of what is to be discussed at the meetings. Finally, the employee should be allowed to bring a person with the meetings for support and, of course, the outcome of the meeting should never be pre-determined. Following these steps, you can ensure that you have allowed for procedural fairness throughout the process.

Neglecting To Clearly State The Reasons For Termination

Another common mistake that many employers make when terminating an employee is to give a clear and concise reason as to why they are being terminated. Listing  a string of different issues or frustrations that occurred over a long period  or getting into other non-relevant issues is not only unprofessional but it does not follow best practices. It’s important to state clearly and without too much detail, exactly why the employee is being dismissed. It’s not okay to simply say they are being fired for misconduct or poor performance. You will need to point to a specific issue or example that demonstrates their poor performance or misconduct. It’s also important to outline how their behaviour breaches company policy and summarise the procedural action that has been taken to this point such as evidence of earning letters. 

Make Sure You Conduct Your Terminations With Procedural Fairness

It’s not uncommon for employers to make mistakes from time to time when they are dismissing staff. To ensure that you don’t end up in legal trouble, it’s crucial that you follow the tips outlined above and maintain procedural fairness throughout the process. With the right approach, you can ensure everyone has been treated fairly in this often very difficult situation.