how involuntary termination works
involuntary termination of employment occurs when an employer lays off dismisses or fires an employee in a layoff employees are usually let go through no fault of their own unlike workers who are fired companies often decide to lay off workers or downsize their organizations to lower their operating costs restructure their organizations or because they no longer need an employee s skill set layoffs may require employers to suspend certain roles temporarily as was the case during the covid 19 pandemic or they may be permanent as a result of restructuring decisions an employee is usually fired from a job as a result of unsatisfactory work performance bad behavior or a poor attitude that does not fit with the corporation s culture they may also be let go because of unethical conduct that violates the company s policies according to at will employment laws recognized in some states a company may dismiss without warning any employee who is performing poorly or violating some form of the company s rules in fact the company does not need to give a reason for the employee s termination although employment at will contracts do not require an employer to warn or give a reason for a dismissal an employer cannot fire a worker for certain reasons including individuals cannot be fired for these reasons an employer who discharges an employee for exercising their legal rights does so unlawfully and may be liable for wrongful termination in the courts other illegal dismissals occur when an employer lets an employee go for discriminatory reasons such as religion race age gender disability sexual preference or nationality an employer who is found guilty of wrongful termination may be required to compensate the wronged employee and or reinstate them into the company other than at will conditions of employment an employer may fire an employee for a specific cause a termination for cause clause requires the employer to put the employee on an improvement schedule of 60 or 90 days during which the employee is expected to improve their work ethic if the employee does not improve by the end of the probationary period they could be terminated for cause and dismissed with prejudice in some cases an employer may dismiss an employee without prejudice this indicates that the employee was let go for reasons other than incompetence insubordination or misconduct in the workplace in such situations the employee may be rehired for a similar job in the future some employers may provide employees with a notice of termination and pay which is often called severance pay this is common for employees who have worked with a company for more than three months and are involuntarily terminated a company that offers severance does so following an agreement made privately with the employee or because severance is specified in its employee handbook keep in mind though severance packages aren t a requirement under the fair labor standards act flsa employers are not required by federal law to give the terminated employee a final paycheck immediately however state laws differ and may mandate that the employer must not only immediately provide the affected employee with a final paycheck but also include accrued and unused vacation days anyone who is unemployed through no fault of their own may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits each state administers an unemployment insurance ui program to offer temporary financial assistance to people who are unemployed and looking for a job the u s department of labor dol provides detailed information about unemployment insurance benefits the last day with your employer is commonly referred to as your end separation or termination date 