by Joseph Malek

Created on: June 02, 2010

Sooner or later every employer is faced with having to fire an employee. Therefore, it is important not to give the fired employee an opportunity to sue you, as an employer, for discrimination practices, in regard to why the employee is removed from his or her job.

As a matter of fact, being sued by fired employees is such a big issue for most corporations that those corporations publish printed guidelines, in regard to the treatment of those employees who do not measure up to the performance standards of the corporation in question.

By doing so, each employee is aware of the fact that he or she will be fired if he or she does not comply with the rules for continued employment. Then again, the compliance with the rules can lead to raises in pay, promotion and/or an increase in the job responsibility of the employee.

Such rules include arriving to work in a timely manner, doing the assigned work properly and the ability to effectively communicate with the other employees within the corporation. Then again, employees who exceed the number of allowed sick days away from work are also in danger of losing their job.

Keep in mind that office workers usually are not members of an organized labor union so the employment rules of the employer is the only determining factor of if the employed is fired for one or more violations of those rules. Then again, an employer and/or boss can simply hound, so to speak, an employee into just quitting, or assign so much work to the employee that it is impossible for the employee to complete the work properly and/or in a timely manner.

There are many ways in which to get rid of an undesirable employee. One of which is to ask the employee to resign or face the possibility of receiving a poor reference from the former employer, if the employee refuses to resign and is subsequently fired.

According to the rules of employment, most large corporations warn the employee of his or her non-compliance of the rules in question and will usually allow the employee to again become in compliance with the rule or rules in question. So too, after a job performance review, if the employee shows no improvement here again is an opportunity to remove such an employee.

It does cost money to hire and train new employees. That is why the employer must make a determination if it would cost more to keep the poor employee in question or to replace that employee. Be that as it may, an employer must base the decision solely on job performance, in order to avoid losing a discrimination law suit that will, no doubt, be filed by the fired employee. Employees must be treated equally and with respect.

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