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Document Difficult Encounters

Leslie, manager at a fast-growing medical equipment company, laments that her company has retained so many people who are incompetent or defiant. The company is afraid of firing anyone because a couple of employees who were let go several years ago filed wrongful-termination lawsuits. The company was skittish—not because it thought the lawsuits had merit but because it lacked documentation about the employees’ shortcomings. And it continued to give short shrift to that part of management to focus on its explosive growth.

Without documentation, firings look fuzzy at best. They look downright suspicious when someone who won employee of the year is out the next because of a “poor performance” that isn’t documented.

One of the first questions lawyers ask employers who seek advice on how to fire an incompetent employee is: “Did you document the problem?” If the answer is no, they will advise the employer to hold off until the documentation supports the decision.

Whether you are free to fire an employee doesn’t matter. What matters most is that you do your homework so the decision doesn’t boomerang back to you.