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Companies that terminate employment of their workers even under the “at-will” status can find themselves caught up in millions of dollars worth of lawsuits. They find themselves within these expensive predicaments when they don’t document worker problems before termination. Documentation keeps a record of the event, justifies the company’s action, and can be used in legal proceedings. It is important to first discuss the different types of employment offered such as “at-will” and “just-cause”. An “at-will” employment status means that an employee can be terminated “with or without cause”. This protection allows companies to make necessary operational decisions but it does not exclude the rights of the individual when it comes to federal legislation such as EEOC or other Federal Civil Rights Organizations. The “Just-cause” employment status is typically reserved for hourly and unionized employees. Under the “just-cause” definition is that employers must find a justifiable reason to terminating. Thus you cannot terminate an employee because you don’t like his/her shoes. Documentation comes into play in both of these employment types. This is direct relation as to whether you are a unionized company, what your employee handbook states, and what the laws of your state are. In general, documentation for “just-cause” employment may need to be collected for union grievances, government office charges, or private lawsuits. In the “at-will” status the bar or proof is much lower but also can include Federal charges and private lawsuits. The types of documentation that a company wants to keep include disciplinary write-ups, witness statements, performance appraisals, record of loss (i.e. theft or anything else that shows the crime), interview notes, video surveillance, employee handbook, prior conversations with the employee concerning the issue, written/email complaints by the employee or anything else related to their termination. Let me give you an example of a termination that went sour. At a company I worked for an employee made numerous complaints about a supervisor that were ignored due to the abrasive nature of the grievant. The supervisor failed to keep appropriate documentation and once the employee was terminated we received a private law-suit, a grievance from the union, a charge by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, a National Labor Relations Board charge and an EEOC charge. Because this employee disagreed with the termination and felt it was retaliation for previous complaints we were hit with 5 different charges. In the end, we won all of them because we showed through hours of digging up of information that the employee was terminated for actions that were their sole responsibility. The rule: In God we Trust-All other’s should provide documentation! Murad Ali is a three time published author, a Ph.d. candidate and a human resource professional. http://www.thenewbusinessworld.blogspot.com
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