How to Protect Yourself From a Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

While most states support an employer's right to at-will employment, where any employee can be terminated for any reason, the possibility for a wrongful termination lawsuit is still likely if the firing is judged to be illegal. By carefully formulating your policies concerning human resources, you can protect yourself and your company from a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Instructions

1. Go through all of your company's new hire paperwork and subsequent memos to determine if any language might be legally construed as a contract for employment. For instance, phrases such as "an employee can continue work with us as long as she complies to all company policies" are contracts that may legally bind an employee to an employer.

2. Review all company paperwork distributed to employees that may contain language that is discriminatory. Any references to age, sex, nationality, creed, religion and physical ability should be immediately erased from such documents, since such references are illegal, according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

3. Keep detailed records of all disciplinary actions and performance evaluations in the appropriate employee file. Ensure that any write-ups have been signed by both the employee and a member of management and dated by both individuals. Avoid any vague language in disciplinary paperwork, and stick to specific behaviors, violations and incidents and how these incidents violate written company policy.

4. Protect yourself from a wrongful termination lawsuit by consulting with your human resources department or a lawyer before terminating an employee. Trained personnel can help you to avoid any terminations that may be illegal or based upon subjective decisions.

5. Avoid becoming emotional or angry when firing an employee, even if he has stolen from you or was engaged in illegal activities. Having a violent shouting match may increase the possibility of saying something that could create a loophole or violate your employee's civil rights. Invite a witness into the room to reduce the chance of an unpleasant incident.

6. Perform regular performance evaluations of your employees to give them feedback. State specific and objective ways in which the employee needs to improve, and avoid sugarcoating the evaluation. It may be more difficult to terminate an employee if undesirable behaviors have not been specifically addressed in writing.

Tips & Warnings

• By using a recruitment process outsourcing company to help you with the hiring process, you may be able to screen out potentially troublesome applicants more effectively, which will help you to protect yourself against a wrongful termination lawsuit.