Many supervisors are afraid to look into the problem. Your first step is a thorough review of company policies including handbooks and any employment offer notifications that you gave the worker. We're not referring to terminating a jobholder who is endangers others in the workplace or who is caught in a criminal act. This may mean calling the worker ahead of time and having her pencil in the call. When the disgruntled employee has not improved per your "final chance" expectations, you give your final presentation to Personnel and management. You now hold ALL employees to your attendance guidelines. You may have work rules specific to your company or industry which I didn't cover in my list of legitimate separation reasons. Other signs that you have an incompetent worker on your hands include a decrease in performance with an increase in the number of mistakes or a jobholder that has frequent memory lapses. You should give copies of all written warnings to proper heads of department, management, and undoubtedly the worker. Since terminating a jobholder requires following several key steps, your separating workforce manual should thoroughly cover each one.

o From talking to the accuser and the accused employee, is it likely the worker had overwhelming misbehavior? This may include steps that lead up to layoff or may mean immediate termination of the employee. The employee should sign written warnings and this serves as detailed proof that he or she was aware of the problems. So expect to give her an increased settlement (likely with extended healthcare benefits) in return for a release from an ADA improper lay off suit. Of course in this case you would want to say something positive about the employee's past performance in a more positive light. Your separation risk for the older jobholder will always be at least medium level.