Terminate an employee without buying a lawsuit
The performance record documented before the decision, protected-activity and timing risks screened, final pay calculated to the state's deadline, the termination meeting scripted, benefits and COBRA notices issued, company property and access recovered, and the unemployment response and reference policy set.
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Who it's for
Small-business owners and first-time managers firing an employee for the first time, with no HR department and no employment attorney on retainer. Fits single performance-based or conduct-based separations; not for reductions in force, mass layoffs, or terminations that follow a formal discrimination complaint, where counsel should lead from the start.
About this playbook
This guide walks a small-business owner or first-time manager through a single employee termination end to end, from the day the decision is made to the final unemployment response. You build the written record that makes the decision defensible, screen for protected-activity and timing traps that turn a fair firing into a lawsuit, and calculate final pay to your state's deadline with its penalties in view. You script and run the termination meeting with a witness, recover property and cut access the same hour, and deliver COBRA and continuation notices before their deadlines. It is not a substitute for a lawyer: the risk screen tells you exactly when to spend a few hundred dollars on a single counsel review instead of guessing. State rules differ, so every state-dependent step tells you where to look up the rule for your state rather than assuming one answer fits all.
What you'll do, step by stepFree preview
Only a sample is open: 4 of 24 steps can be read in full. The rest unlock when you buy.
Phase 1: Build the documented case
4 stepsPhase 2: Screen the legal risk
4 stepsPhase 3: Calculate final pay and benefits
4 stepsPhase 4: Run the termination meeting
5 stepsPhase 5: Recover property and cut access
3 stepsPhase 6: Handle what comes after
4 steps
Details
What you need first
The termination decision is already made and an effective date set. Access to the employee's personnel file, payroll records, and benefit plan documents. The state labor department and unemployment agency contacts for the employer's state. Authority to set final pay and decide severance, or a named person who has it.
