Leave a Paper Trail
Planning the process properly means keeping a detailed file on the employee.
Indeed, the cardinal sin when it comes to employee termination is lack of written evidence should a wrongful dismissal suit ever go before the courts. Stern says it's crucial that employers document all performance problems and warnings. "Make sure you note the dates and timelines given for improvement," he says.
"You must have a paper trail," agrees Monica Belcourt, Professor of HR management at York University in Toronto, and former president of the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario. "One of the worst situations is a new boss comes in, decides the employee is incompetent and fires that employee, whereas the previous boss thought that the employee was competent enough to stay or even issued performance appraisals saying the employee's performance was above average or even average. That's a killer [in a wrongful dismissal suit]."
Also, be wary of the language — both written and verbal — that is used to describe an employee, says Paul Boniferro, Partner with law firm McCarthy Tetrault. "What I always tell employer counsel is assume the case is going to trial and assume that every piece of correspondence you've written and every word you have said to the employee is going to be repeated in front of a judge," he says. "So you want to say things and write things that will not make you feel uncomfortable in court. Always take the high road as the employer."  Page Two
|
