Employment terminations can be straightforward, or they can be complicated, but they are ultimately something of a chess game. The one move that remains in your control, though, is the exit package. We’ve previously written about times when you may not owe an employee anything, but what about the money that you do owe them, and how should it be paid out to avoid potential litigation and let everyone walk away satisfied? Where Law Meets Contracts The first guide to what you may owe an employee upon termination comes from their employment contract. If you have a written employment...

When you start a new job, you’re usually handed an array of paperwork – even digital-first companies still resort to paper for some of these items. They may include a copy of your employment contract that you had signed, information about how to claim employee health benefits, and some opaque-sounding booklet known as an employment manual. While job-specific training may be given one-on-one or in small groups, these employee manuals often apply to the whole company and, at first glance, often sound very generic. Of course, you know not to miss work, not to come into the office in...

When an employee sues their former employer for wrongful termination, their claim is usually for what is known as ‘common law notice.’ This amount is roughly a judge’s estimation, given that person’s circumstances, of how long it will take them to find comparable new work. Determining this amount is an art, not a science. While there is a common misconception of a ‘1 month per year of service’ rule, that has never been the law. A court will review an employee’s age, how long they were with the employer, the nature of the work they were doing, the current job market, and other factors to...