Offboarding with Care: Conducting Legal & Ethical Employee Terminations in 2025

If an employer has exhausted all the necessary steps to help the employee improve his or her work performance – and those steps are not working – it may be time to terminate the employee.

Terminating an employee is not only stressful for the employee losing a job, but also for the employer. There are legal, ethical steps to take when you terminate an employee.  The company must ensure its actions are above reproach.  How the company terminates an employee sends a powerful message not only to the terminated employee, but also to remaining staff, either positive or negative.

• Offboarding is not an afterthought
• Pre-termination efforts on the part of the employer
• 3 key aspects of a proper termination
• Top 10 things NOT to do when terminating an employee
• Laws affecting termination
• Legal ramifications of not terminating an employee
• Contractual and At-Will Employment situations
• Offboarding involuntary and voluntary separations
• Conducting the termination meeting
• Preparing for and effectively dealing with a volatile employee
• Determine when severance is appropriate
• Final pay considerations:  Federal vs. State laws
• Resources to assist the employee in the transition
• Handling requests for references for terminated employees
• Communicating the termination to co-workers without invading the employee’s privacy
• Documenting your termination discussions 
• Post-termination record retention guidelines
• Recognizing lessons learned

• Senior Leadership
• HR Professionals
• Managers & Supervisors
• Team Leaders
• Operations Professionals
• Compliance Professionals

Diane L. Dee, President and Founder of Advantage HR Consulting, LLC is a senior Human Resources professional with over 25 years of experience in the HR arena. Diane’s background includes experience in HR consulting, training, and administration in corporate, government, consulting, and pro bono environments.

Diane founded Advantage HR Consulting in early 2016. Under Diane’s leadership, Advantage HR Consulting provides comprehensive, cost-effective Human Resources solutions for small to mid-sized public and private firms in the greater Chicagoland area.  Diane also develops and conducts webinars on a wide variety of HR compliance and administrative topics for various training firms across the country.   Additionally, Diane is the author of multiple white papers addressing various HR compliance topics.

Diane holds a Master's Certificate in Human Resources from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and has attained SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications. Diane is a member of the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Diane performs pro bono work through the Taproot Foundation assisting non-profit clients by integrating their Human Resources goals with their corporate strategies.