Legally Terminating Employees: 10 Critical Things you must Know
Learn to plan and carry out employee terminations that limit legal risk, from documentation and legal review to informing the employee, final pay, severance and unemployment claims.
Speaker
Melvin K. Patterson
Employment attorney · Cedrus Group · 20+ years as trial litigator
Overview
Once you decide to terminate an employee, a series of business issues with legal consequences follows. This 90-minute training on legally terminating employees shows how to handle a termination without creating liability.
The right approach can depend on whether the employee is at-will, a government employee or under contract. You'll review your termination policy, federal and state wrongful termination laws, when firing is illegal, and the difference between layoffs and discharge for cause.
The session then covers documenting performance issues, conducting a legal review, informing the employee, the final paycheck, severance pay and waivers of legal rights, and unemployment claims.
Why attend: Terminating an employee is one of the hardest parts of managing a business, but sometimes it is necessary. Doing it professionally and ethically, with the right procedures, softens the impact on the employee and helps protect the business from litigation. It suits business owners and operators, HR and personnel managers, department managers and anyone responsible for terminating employees.
What’s covered
- Types of employees and the issues they present: at-will, government and contract
- Reviewing the company termination policy
- Risk analysis
- Layoffs versus discharge for cause
- Federal and state wrongful termination laws, and when firing is illegal
- Documenting performance issues and the employee file
- Conducting the legal review
- Informing the employee of the decision
- The final paycheck
- Severance pay, waivers of legal rights and unemployment claims
Who should attend
What you get
About the speaker
Melvin K. Patterson, an attorney licensed to practice before all state and federal courts in California, is General Counsel to the Cedrus Group, a family of international financial services firms with offices around the globe. He is a member of the Labor & Employment Section of the California State Bar and has been admitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California as well as the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Mr. Patterson is experienced in Labor and Employment litigation and transactional matters in the U.S., Asia and the U.K. He has designed internal business policies, procedures and management structures, as well as inter-corporate relationships and has been a business owner himself. Mr. Patterson is an experienced trial litigator who has handled numerous business and commercial matters for over 20 years on behalf of an elite clientele around the world. He has defended clients in matters brought against companies by employees, commercial business agreements and government regulatory matters. Mr. Patterson holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from the John F. Kennedy University School of Law, as well as a Certificate in Strategic Human Resource Management from Cornell University. He has also earned the American Jurisprudence Award, completed specialized training in Assessing Economic Damages, Forensic Discovery and Preservation of Electronic Evidence and Data. Mr. Patterson was nominated to the National Dean's List and has been a speaker before such groups as the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, is a past contributing editor to California Motions In Limine (The Rutter Group) and has been a columnist for the "The Docket", the news and information journal of the San Mateo County Bar Ass'n. He has a knowledge of Korean, Japanese and Spanish languages.
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