If the written notice does not work, you must sack the person. After all, a worker that is insubordinate is one that believes he or she can make and live by his or her own rules. Therefore, you should understand as much as possible when it comes to separating employees to do it sensitively while avoiding legal troubles. If the dismissal is owing to a layoff, restructuring or downsizing, you can express some sensitivity in the letters of lay off. And while every layoff is different, all separation notices should follow a similar format. In addition, when the worker is over 40 and the replacement is younger, you should worry about age bias claims.

In Montana, the law requires any dismissal to be "for good cause." But as you learned in the last chapter, federal and state governments and judges have created over 30 laws preventing employers from terminating for illegal reasons. If not, set some reasonable standards for your personnel. If necessary, the layoff notification may need to explain retirement accounts or life insurance policies or specify who can help with transferring these benefits. For example, you will likely need to draft a severance package for the jobholder. I call this meeting the "Survivors' Meeting" but you should call it officially a "Firm Meeting." This helps decrease the remaining workforce' feelings of guilt. Indispensable worker syndrome is a business owner's (or any supervisor's) fear that a jobholder can't be replaced because he uniquely contributes a large share to the company's results. First, if the gossip is about an individual employee, it can cause much pain not only for that person, but also for their coworkers. Here is where sacking jailed workers becomes sensitive and you should proceed carefully. A terminating workforce guide can guide you through the method of providing written warning about job productivity. According to our firm policy, I'll be placing a copy of this final written notification into your permanent workers file.