Managing People - Firing Employees
Legal Risks

Legal Risks

While there aren’t any laws in the United States that take away the right of employers to fire employees for cause, including unsatisfactory quantity or quality of work, you still face a significant legal risk every time you fire someone.

Why? Once you fire an employee you have typically engaged the person’s fury. This person seldom believes that his or her performance was as poor as you have claimed. Someone who decides to pursue “justice” through the courts will generally claim discrimination. Women, anyone over the age of forty, physically challenged persons, minorities, gays, and many other groups are protected by law from discrimination. Some form of legal discrimination protection blankets just about 80 percent of our national work force.

Courts, especially juries, tend to be highly sympathetic to fired employees. This sympathy is magnified if the fired employees remain unemployed or if they are older workers.