Fire Without Fear: How to Legally Terminate an Employee

Terminating an employee is never easy. But doing it the wrong way can be even harder-and far more costly.
Employers today face more potential challenges when making termination, disciplinary, demotion, suspension, or reduction-in-force decisions. Employees are increasingly aware of their workplace rights, regulatory agencies are providing more resources for employees to understand and assert those rights, and whistleblower and retaliation protections continue to create additional considerations for employers.

That means a termination decision that seems straightforward can quickly raise questions about discrimination, retaliation, documentation, protected activity, consistency, or compliance with applicable regulations.

And the risks don't necessarily end with the termination itself.

Poorly handled terminations can expose organizations to litigation, fines, penalties, regulatory scrutiny, and significant workplace safety concerns. Managers and supervisors can also create additional risk through poor judgment, inconsistent practices, inadequate documentation, or failure to recognize potential legal red flags.
So, before you say “You’re fired,” what should you know?

This practical webinar will help employers, HR professionals, and managers understand the legal and operational considerations that should be addressed before, during, and after an employee termination.

• Conduct employee terminations with dignity, respect, consistency, and compliance in mind
• Identify and mitigate potential wrongful termination allegations before they arise
• Develop a practical termination checklist to help reduce organizational risk
• Understand EEOC regulations and guidelines relevant to discrimination and termination decisions
• Establish policies and procedures that give managers greater confidence when handling terminations
• Train managers and supervisors to recognize and avoid decisions or conduct that could increase employer liability
• Properly document performance and disciplinary issues before making a termination decision
• Develop a termination process that promotes consistency, fairness, objectivity, and defensibility
• Recognize common obstacles that can complicate an otherwise straightforward termination
• Plan for volatile or high-risk terminations involving threats, weapons, aggressive behavior, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, or other safety concerns
• Understand how retaliation protections should be evaluated before terminating an employee
• Help managers make termination decisions more confidently while reducing unnecessary legal

• Termination requirements and regulations that may vary by state
• Retaliation regulations and how they can affect termination decisions
• Regulatory agencies and emerging workplace enforcement priorities
• Why managers and supervisors need training on termination best practices
• How workplace violence and safety concerns can affect termination planning
• How weapons, threats, aggressive behavior, domestic violence, stalking, harassment, and other warning signs can impact termination decisions
• Potential liability for managers and supervisors arising from workplace decisions or inaction
• Regulations and enforcement trends that may create increased risk for employers

• Human Resources Professionals
• Employers and Business Owners
• Managers and Supervisors
• Executives
• Compliance Professionals
• Employee Relations Professionals
• Anyone responsible for disciplinary or termination decisions

Margie Faulk is a senior level human resources professional with over 15 years of HR management and compliance experience. A current Compliance Advisor for HR Compliance Solutions, LLC, Margie, has worked as an HR Compliance advisor for major corporations and small businesses in the small, large, private, public and Non-profit sectors.  Margie has provided small to large businesses with risk management strategies that protect companies and reduces potential workplace fines and penalties from violation of employment regulations. Margie is bilingual (Spanish) fluent and Bi-cultural.

Margie’s area of expertise includes Criminal Background Screening Policies and auditing, I-9 document correction and storage compliance, Immigration compliance, employee handbook development, policy development, sexual harassment investigations/certified training, SOX regulations, payroll compliance, compliance consulting, monitoring US-based federal, state and local regulations, employee relations issues, internal investigations, HR management, compliance consulting, internal/external audits, and performance management.

Margie is a speaker and accomplished trainer and has created and presented compliance seminars/webinars for over 16 US and International compliance institutes. Margie has testified as a compliance subject matter expert (SME) for several regulatory agencies and against regulatory agencies, thank goodness not on the same day. Margie offers compliance training to HR professionals, business owners, and leadership to ensure compliance with workplace and regulations.

Margie’s unique training philosophy includes providing free customized tools for all attendees. These tools are customized and have been proven to be part an effective risk management strategy. Some of the customized tools include the I-9 Self Audit. Correction and Storage program, Ban the Box Decision Matrix Policy that Employers can provide in a dispute for allegations, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Compliance Guide, Drug-Free Workplace Volatile Termination E-Book and other compliance program tools when attendees register and attend Margie’s trainings.

Margie holds professional human resources certification (PHR) from the HR Certification Institution (HRCI) and SHRM-CP certification from the Society for Human Resources Management. Margie is a member of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE).