Disobedience is a term used to describe when a jobholder refuses to follow orders. Gross misconduct: Stealing $5300 from the business (Fire right away.) Asking the worker to leave makes the most sense when the jobholder is low risk. Be aware that worker gross misconduct can severely damage the small business.

By my count, there are 29 federal acts and common laws protecting personnel from wrongful dismissal. Here's the standard approach you'll find in most books: To keep out of court, you must thoroughly document the employee's terrible productivity or misconduct before you terminate him. Therefore, you must know how to terminate an at will employee appropriately to keep yourself out of hot water. If your group health plan has a third-party administrator (like Blue Cross Blue Shield), you have 30 days after the worker's lay off to tell the administrator. (Please give him a chance to improve, but if he remains a bad apple, then separating is appropriate.) It will likely not the be the last time you here from the sacked worker. Clearly, the employee should sign the employee separation agreement. In addition, the services of a legal adviser are costly. And gossip in the workplace can do much harm to your employees' group spirit, their productivity and even the business's reputation. A basic text on this subject I like is The supervisor's Survival Guide by Rosner, Halcrow and Levins. 4) If you lay off your rival right away, she'll probably want revenge through a litigation.