How to Determine Whether Just Cause for Termination Exists
When companies terminate an employee, a process exists that they generally must follow, even in the absence of an employment contract. Firing someone without just cause leaves a company open to a lawsuit from the employee for wrongful termination. Even as important as this is, it can be tricky to determine whether a just cause for termination exists when a company fires an employee.
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Instructions
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Examine the employee's personnel file for any filed documents that provided the employee with notice of issues relating to performance or an inability to adhere to written company policies or procedures. A company can only establish just cause for termination if the employee was duly warned of issues ahead of time, a plan was put in place to fix them, and the company gave the employee multiple opportunities to deal with the problems.
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Refer to the company's written policy manual. To have a just cause for a termination, the employee must have either put others in danger by causing a hostile work environment or repeatedly broken a written company rule or policy. Proof must exist that the employee was aware of said policy or rule to justify the company’s termination of him for breaking it.
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Gather all evidence that backs the company's reason for terminating the employee. If it was an issue related to performance, gather a file of evidence that provides direct evidence of projects that cost the company money because of missed deadlines or subpar work. If the issue was a broken policy, gather evidence that centers on proof that the employee broke the policy in question.
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Gather all documentation that shows that the company followed due process in the termination and treated the employee fairly. In order for just cause for termination to exist, the company must prove that it followed a certain process and it would have taken the same steps with any other employee of the same experience, history and employment level that engaged in the same infraction.
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