The yellow light here is to plan the layoffs carefully so that no discrimination case can be brought against you. You have 30 days from this warning date to improve your performance and meet these expectations. You can tell me then what you must make this happen.". Then place it in the employee's folder. Without paperwork or physical substantiation to back rationale for termination, you're opening a window for separated workforce to claim unlawful termination. No sample written notification of layoff will fit your every need. This company will come in and create a mirror image of the worker's hard-drive onto a DVD and certify this is the "original" form as used by the sacked worker. Outplacement helps the jobholder find work in the shortest time period. This will show other personnel that such behavior is not acceptable. Whether you're a small, medium or large firm, you should document the reason behind the termination based on legitimate company needs. The memorandum should not only present the business in a good light, but it also removes any loopholes a former employee could take advantage of in court.

Inform them you're as heartbroken as they are about all this. So you can immediately ratchet the discipline up a notch to a written notification. Question: How do you handle yourself when you're just the messenger and the dismissed employee wants your opinion of the circumstances? You may be facing a similarly tough separating or layoff.