25 Employer Mistakes when Terminating Employees

With exception of an employment contract or unionized employees, Michigan is employment “at-will”, which means the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship for any reason or no reason at any time. However, employers are generally subject to possible legal action if the termination by the employer involved a violation of an employee’s legally protected rights under state and/or federal law (as applicable to the employer). By way of illustration, an employer cannot terminate an individual if such termination was based on a discriminatory reason(s). Over my 25 years of legal practice representing both employees and employers in the workplace in Michigan, the following are a list of common termination mistakes made by employers that may leave them legally exposed: 

• Not having the proposed termination and related documentation reviewed first by legal counsel
• Making an emotional or impulsive decision
• Not following a progressive disciplinary process if the employer has one
• Terminating an employee after they have made a claim that the employer violated a protected right of an employee under the law
• Failure of an employer to investigate a prior employee complaint involving a potential violation of an employee’s protected right under the law
• Terminating an employee for an event/situation where prior employees were not terminated for the same event/situation
• Disciplining employees for frivolous issues
• Terminating an employee under false pretenses (i.e., making up a reason)
• Not having a witness for the employer at termination
• Not conducting an exit interview of the employee
• Not providing a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason(s) for termination
• Giving multiple, inconsistent reasons for the termination
• Giving bad performance reviews when the employee previously had consistently good performance reviews
• Terminating an employee for performance-based reason(s) that are not realistically obtainable
• Mishandling the termination
• Not following the procedures outlined in an employee manual/handbook
• Poor timing of the termination
• Not having documentation to support the termination reason(s)
• Waiting too long after an event/situation to terminate the employee
• Terminating an employee shortly after they filed a complaint with a government agency concerning the employer or where an employee threatens an employer to file a complaint with a government agency
• Terminating employees to save on wages
• Not following proper employer termination procedures
• Giving other employee preferential treatment
• Not offering a separation package when appropriate under the circumstances
• Unless a serious offense, failing to discuss the problem with the employee prior to termination