If the employee believes the problem you're having relates to his or her disability, you should address it now. Give the firm grounds for the lay off including the company's new strategic direction and company pressures. If the complaints of poor job productivity turns out to be unclear or vague — or — if the jobholder has not been counseled about her job performance and given a chance to upgrade — then dimissing a pregnant employee after finding out about the pregnancy will cause you trouble.

The basic definition of "employment at will" says the employer or the jobholder may end the working relationship at any time and for any reason without fearing lawsuit. * Will separating this worker affect performance adversely? 1) Likely this difficult worker has good productivity evaluations done by your predecessor. It protects you and the small company against any form of law suit a former employee chooses to file. Before Terminating A Pregnant Worker. Anyway, this means is you have a big law suit coming your way if you don't take action right away. Therefore a guidebook with all the information and answers to job termination questions is a need for any firm that employs even just one person. Even "at will" personnel who understand that they may lose their job at any time may have legal recourse if your grounds for dismissing a worker are invalid. How to Use a worker Warning Form to Your Benefit. In this case, you may have given the jobholder a oral warning to upgrade within 30 days and she didn't. * Third, do a consistent "check in" with the employee to be sure that you understand each other. Before this meeting, gather all of your evidence and write a layoff memorandum.