The federal version of COBRA only applies to private employers with group health plans and 20 or more employees. Your remaining workers have lost their friends and coworkers. So how do business owners like Melanie protect themselves when sacking workforce? Without strong standards for employee separation, you will find it difficult to layoff the problem worker quickly enough. Unfortunately it is easy for a laid off at will employee to bring a case against you claiming you had no real ground for separation. To help clear up the rationale for the dismissal, create a brief memo which outlines the company's new strategic plan with the goals you expect to achieve. o The higher the layoff risk, the higher the chance your small company could go bankrupt, or, for larger companies, your profits will drop dramatically. Your worker dismissal letter should summarize the rationale for dismissing and the effective date of the layoff. This should include the termination notice, separation settlement, final paycheck, severance check and COBRA notice. Often, you don't have to layoff because the pressure forces the worker to resign.

You must warn or reprimand the worker before you can take any further steps in layoff. The warning can act as a precursor to harsher remedial action. You now hold ALL workforce to your attendance guidelines. Therefore, it is important that you always keep your firing workforce manual up-to-date. The Third Step When Sacking Workers: Schedule the firing Meeting.