Human Resources Support
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How to Fire an Employee
Transcript
Why should you call an employment lawyer if you're contemplating firing someone?
It's a tricky area of law with a lot of nuances. You have to make sure you comply with statutes, regulations and the common law. It's important you get expert legal advice to get it right because if you get it wrong it could end up costing you more in the long run.
Do you need a good reason to terminate an employee?
In Canada you don't need a reason to terminate an employee as long as you're providing them with enough severance pay or notice of the termination.
How much severance must you pay an employee?
The test that's commonly used is to pay an employee lost wages and compensation for the period of time it would reasonably take them to find another job.
In addition to severance what else must you provide an employee that you terminated?
You have to consider continuing benefits and providing auxiliary benefits like outplacement counselling and a letter of reference.
What constitutes just cause for dismissal?
Any serious form of misconduct that you can prove and that you shouldn't be expected to tolerate.
What options do you have as an employer?
You don't always have to provide severance pay. It's your option to provide advanced notice of the termination in place of severance.
What are some key do's and don't's at a termination meeting?
It's really important that you have more than one person there and have it scripted out so that you don't make any mistakes. Also it's really important you don't argue.
