If you have an employee that is not working as hard as you think they should, are stealing from the company, or are not doing the job they were hired to do, firing them may be the only option you have available to you. Unfortunately, there are some people who will intentionally do a poor job when working for you just so that you will fire them. They will then try to claim that you are discriminating against them and take you to court. When this happens, you need to be sure that you are able to properly prove that the person was an unreliable employee and why. Below is a guide for the things that your lawyer and you will need to prepare in order to fight your case in court for a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Establish a History of Poor Conduct
It is important to provide your lawyer with copies of every write up the individual received for their poor work habits. You need to be sure that you can prove that they were not doing their job properly, when they were making the errors, and what errors they were making. There needs to be a paper trail that you can use to establish that the employee made multiple errors and was not terminated the first time they made a mistake.
Provide Evidence of any Theft
If the person is stealing from your company, provide definitive evidence that they stole from your business. Video of the theft is ideal, but a written confession from the individual will often work, as well. If you think someone is stealing from your company, it is best to set up cameras in your business to catch the person in the act. This will give you definitive proof that the thefts are taking place and who is responsible for them.
Prove Which Preventative Measures Were Taken
It is important to make sure that you attempt to remedy the situation before firing someone, if they are just doing their job poorly. Document any additional training or mediation the person received to try to keep them from having to be terminated.
The lawyer, such as someone from Harshman & McBee, will be able to take this information and establish that the individual was not a hard worker and was unreliable when it came to the tasks they were hired to perform. The court will then be able to assess that the person was fired for poor work ethics rather than because he or she is being discriminated against.
