another termination

[lilliom]

This is an email intended to document conversations leading to the end of Diana (Dee)...'s employment at .... The main conversation took place on February 24, 2006, around 2pm

Comments

[organfailure]

That sounds like it went very well. Given some of her flakey behavior in the past, I feared some sort of drama with her departure.

[lilliom]

I figured it could go either way. The other option was doing a last chance agreement, which is a legal document where the employee agrees to follow certain guidelines. If he or she refuses to sign it, then you don't have to keep them as an employee.

But her attitude is not curable.

J.

[gravitastic]

Permission to be technical for a second? Was this person a contract employee, or an employee-at-will? Washington state recognizes the "at-will" doctrine. To my surprise, I recently had to explain this concept to our own VP of HR. "Employee Performance Plans" is what we call "last chance" agreements. Since our Art. of Inc. recognizes all employees, and DC recognizes the "at-will" doctrine as "at-will", contracts notwithstanding, "EPPs" mean nothing in legal terms.

In terms of current law, its easy to fire someone. In terms of ethics and conscience, not so easy.

[lilliom]

The woman happens to be in three protected classes (female, over forty, and a minority), and she has already accused me of having a problem with women.

Thus, I have to back it up. Fortunately, she is refusing to assist residents with medications, saying that she isn't certified. However, the certification she is talking about isn't legally required for the client she refuses to help.

So if it gets ugly, we will say we are firing her because she refuses to perform the essential functions of the job. It's well documented.

But she isn't a bad person. We are allowing her to save face.

J.