California is an at-will employment state. Companies have the authority to let workers go for a wide range of different reasons — potentially even for ill-advised or largely frivolous reasons.
When it comes to hiring and firing, employers in our state retain a considerable amount of discretion. That being said, employers cannot remove a worker for an illegal reason or in breach of a contract. While the connotations of being laid off and being terminated are quite a bit different, for most California workers, there is no real legal difference.
Employers generally have the right to lay off or terminate workers, but they can be held liable if they act in a discriminatory, retaliatory, or otherwise unlawful manner. Most notably, an employee in California who was fired for misconduct may not be eligible to obtain unemployment benefits.
Workers who were fired for lack of skill or unintentional poor performance are generally still eligible to seek unemployment in California. Your warnings should come with clear expectations for improvement and a timeline with which to achieve them, so that if the employee is in the end called in to be fired, this final step should come as no surprise. Some states have more stringent requirements, so check with your state department of labor.
If your workforce includes unionized workers, you also need to make sure you fulfill any contractual obligations to bargain with the union. Layoffs —especially those involving a sizable portion of your workforce or the closure of a company branch—can be a complicated process with many moving parts. Whether the employee is being laid off or fired, you want to make sure the employee is treated fairly and empathetically in all steps of the offboarding process.
You also want to make the transition as painless as possible for the employee, yourself as the HR professional, and the company. Thus, the recommended steps for both types of involuntary terminations have many similarities. Here are important processes to follow for your termination meeting:. Experts differ on which day of the week is best for a termination meeting, because the needs of individual people and companies differ widely. In general, this means having the meetings at the end of work day.
Pick a private, neutral place for the meeting, such as a conference room. If you suspect the employee might get angry or violent, consider also having security personnel in the room. Quickly let the employee know that they are being terminated, and give a clear and honest reason for the termination. Some states require you to provide employees with this on their final day of work; NOLO has a handy chart of laws for each state.
A prepared script is recommended. This will help you keep the conversation on track without omitting any important details. In addition, be prepared for common emotions such as sadness, fear, anger, and disbelief. Layoffs are a common part of business in many industries and are nothing to be ashamed of or anxious about sharing.
The company went through a restructuring and our person team was let go. The company acquired another firm and decided our group was redundant.
Seven other people were laid off, too. You can see both of the examples above include this, which eliminates any doubt the hiring manager might have about whether you were fired vs. This will make it sound like you have an ongoing attitude issue. So you need to be strategic in terms of what you share and how you explain yourself!
In general, you want to avoid sounding like you have a recurring attitude problem, or an attitude problem in general. But they will often verify the following:. And that last bullet is the key. However, they may tell your future employer that there were no layoffs and that your employment was terminated for other reasons. But it is a lie, and there is a big difference between being fired and being laid off, which is why I wrote this article. FYI, I also do not recommend lying on your resume.
For similar reasons. So that means you really cannot be laid off for performance. Why this matters: If an employer mentioned performance during your final discussion with them, then it likely means you were fired or terminated.
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