Employee Termination Checklist Template

Write the reason in one sentence, the way you would say it in the meeting. Then list every document behind it with its date: written warnings, a performance plan, incident reports or, for a layoff, the memo that made the business case.

Now read what has been logged since the latest one. A warning from 11 months ago, followed by two good check-ins, suggests to any later reader that the problem was fixed. Count the days since that document, because a yes-or-no box hides the number.

For a performance reason, the record to have is a performance improvement plan with dated check-ins. For misconduct, it's the findings of a finished workplace investigation.

Then compare the case with others. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal job discrimination laws, lists comparative evidence that can point to retaliation¹. Its examples include discipline for breaking a rule that usually goes unenforced, or harsher discipline than a coworker got for the same thing. Another is a drop in reviews after a complaint, with no new performance problem to explain it.

Retaliation is the claim to plan around. The EEOC's 2016 guidance calls it the most frequently alleged basis of discrimination in all sectors¹. It says the protection extends to people who complain about discrimination, formally or informally, serve as witnesses in investigations, or ask for a religious or disability accommodation.

List each such event from the past year, plus any leave request, with its date. Count the days from when the decision-maker learned of the latest one to the day you plan to tell the employee. Then check whether any document behind the decision predates it.

That last check carries weight. In a 2001 decision, Clark County School District v. Breeden², the Supreme Court noted that courts accepting timing alone as evidence of retaliation require it to be "very close." The cases it cited found 3 and 4 months too long. It added that an employer's "proceeding along lines previously contemplated," meaning a plan it was weighing before learning of the employee's lawsuit, "is no evidence whatever of causality."

A long gap doesn't clear a case, though. The EEOC says that even then, other evidence of a retaliatory motive may establish the link.

A stale file or a short gap means stop and look, not an automatic no. Refresh a stale file only when the conduct is real and recent, and never backdate or pad a record. If the gap is short and nothing older is on file, take the case to an employment lawyer before booking the meeting. Where leave is involved, check the dates in your leave of absence tracker too.

In the US, the Labor Department says employers are not required by federal law to give former employees their final paycheck immediately³. Some states do, so use the rule for the employee's work state, which may not be your company's home state.

California's Labor Commissioner says a fired employee must be paid all wages, including accrued vacation, immediately⁴, and earned commissions the same day. For someone earning $228 a day, a willful 9-day delay could add a $2,052 penalty. Texas's Workforce Commission says final pay is due within 6 calendar days of a discharge⁵, and holding it longer because equipment hasn't come back is not legal.

Many employers pay severance in exchange for a signed release of claims. The EEOC explains that the payment must be something of value beyond what the employee is already owed⁶, so earned vacation or sick pay can't count. No release can stop someone from filing a charge with the EEOC.

A release of age discrimination claims from an employee 40 or older must meet seven requirements of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. The agreement must be easy to understand, name the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and advise the employee in writing to consult a lawyer. It can't cover claims that arise after signing. The employee gets at least 21 days to consider it and 7 days after signing to revoke.

Offer releases to two or more people in one layoff program and the review period becomes 45 days, with written disclosures about the ages of those chosen and not chosen.

Have the manager deliver the news, with someone from HR there to take notes and answer pay and benefits questions. Say the decision in the first minute and say that it's final. Give the reason in one sentence, in the same words as the decision memo.

Those words have to hold up later. The EEOC lists shifting explanations¹ as grounds to infer that a stated reason is a pretext. Its example: one reason in the termination meeting, another given to the agency later.

Spend the rest of the meeting on logistics: the last day, the final pay amount and date, benefits, and returning equipment. Leave out:

• Comparisons with other employees
• A recap of the whole performance history
• An apology that hints the decision could change
• Debate about why this person and not another

Agree in advance when IT ends access, usually during the meeting rather than hours later. An employee offboarding checklist lists each account and how it closes. Tell the immediate team the same day, after the employee hears: who covers the work and where questions go. Keep the reason private, unless the role was cut in a restructuring.

COBRA, the federal law on continuing group health coverage, generally applies to private employers with at least 20 employees. If it applies to you, the Labor Department's employer guide says you must notify the plan within 30 days of the termination⁷. The plan then has 14 days to send the election notice. Last, close the file with the decision memo, both day counts and proof that final pay went out on time.

The template on this page covers these steps in four documents and three sheets. Open it with Edit with AI and River counts both gaps from your dates before it works out final pay or drafts anything.