When an Employer Should Consult Legal Counsel Before Firing an Employee
The easiest thing to do is to hire an employee; the hardest thing to do is to fire one. But your business will lose money if you fail to fire unproductive employees. You cannot afford to retain employees based upon sympathy.
When you fire an employee, you must think about what that employee will say when questioned by a plaintiff's employment attorney. When that fired employee goes to an employment attorney and says, for example, "I was told that I was being fired because I wasn't performing well enough," the attorney will ask:
- Did you have a written employment contract?
- Were you a union member or engaged in any union organizing activities?
- Are you age 40 or older?
- Is your race or national origin anything other than Caucasian born in the U.S.?
- Have you had any medical problems or disabilities?
- Are your religious beliefs or practices different from others at the office?
- Did the company you worked for have 50 or more employees?
- Have you taken time off work for the birth or adoption of a child, a serious health condition, or a serious health condition of a member of your family?
- Was the employer engaged in any illegal activity?
- Did you ever blow the whistle on the employer for breaking the law?
- Does the employer have any history of paying severance to employees?
- Has the employer failed to pay you all your wages or earned vacation?
- Are you a veteran?
If the employee can answer "Yes" to any of these questions, then various state and federal laws could affect the likelihood that the employee will pursue legal action against your company. Although Indiana is an "at-will" employment state and generally employees can be fired for any reason or no reason, there are a number of significant exceptions.
It should not be embarrassing to ask for help in deciding whether or how to terminate an employee. You may be able to save your business hundreds of thousands of dollars by simply stopping to make that phone call to legal counsel to talk through the situation before taking final action. The attornies of Lapointe Law Firm have over 20 years of experience working in all aspects of labor and employment law and are well-versed in all the current state and federal laws that could affect your business. They take pride in providing a straightforward practical perspective on the realities of dealing with problem employees.
