I base my overall approach to dismissals on compassion for the terminated employee. Give the original copy of the worker lay off letter to the jobholder while keeping a copy for your records. * Address your worker's needs within the boundaries of your small business. Even though some offerings like discontinuance pay are not necessary, they make the termination process go much smoother. If management normally accepts this language or even uses it at times, they cannot consider the employee bad. It must be easy to use and it should help the firing supervisor draft the necessary write-up without risking the business legally. It should also spell out any other applicable terms, such as whether the employee is eligible for future employment or a noncompete clause. Once you have this proof, you can fire the employee. If done appropriately, you can also challenge unemployment compensation for workers fired for misbehavior. If the drug or alcohol abuse while on-the-job causes the gross misconduct, then the obvious solution would be to sack the worker.

But when their bad disposition affects their work or that of their co-employees, it becomes a serious issue. Also it is part of the Human resources department's responsibilities to know the laws and rules that apply to separations. For example, "After giving you a oral warning and time to upgrade, I'm still disappointed in your current performance level. If the employee is a hazard to any business and its personnel (such as prone to violence or theft), then it's your duty to include this in your notification and phone references. For example, the supervisor can rate the worker from a 1 to a 5 where 1 is an excellent worker and 5 is someone who desires continuous coaching and retraining. Every business should have set ground rules and standards.