In the rare cases where you can't settle and the worker is going to court, you need to get yourself a good employment legal adviser. If the drug or alcohol abuse while on-the-job causes the insubordination, then the obvious solution would be to fire the jobholder. Here the failure of the jobholder to follow instructions leads to endangerment of the employee, their coworkers or the boss. As long as your workers have good work habits and show up on time, you can't terminate them for being in jail as this is bias against their crime. It's difficult to lay off anyone, but a good notice can ease the pain of a firing. According to ERISA (another federal law on retirement benefits), you can't layoff a worker to stop her from getting a retirement benefit. If a firm does give a reference, it's only the most basic facts such as positions held, job titles and dates of employment. Also be aware that dismissed personnel may act irrationally.

(See Chapter 7 for how to sack for gross misconduct.) Therefore, you should understand as much as possible when it comes to firing workforce to do it sensitively while avoiding legal troubles. Document the effects this behavior has on your company. (Even if the employee's attorney presents new substantiation to show you were wrong.) You don't have to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt." You only need to show a reasonable person would come up with the same conclusion. To get your extra severance benefits, I should get a signed copy of this memorandum within 21 days. Dealing with difficult employees is perhaps the hardest part of running a firm. For example, if the disgruntled employee is routinely late arriving to work, production may cease altogether as the other workers wait for the jobholder to arrive. As you can see from these 7 roles, an Hr professional is a key partner whenever a manager decides to dismiss a worker.