Terminations Made Less Terrible (For Everyone)

We’re back talking about startup employment law! In this episode, we double click on terminations. One of the hardest things every founder and manager has to do in their job is letting people go. Whether it's due to poor performance or a restructuring, there are right and wrong ways to handle it. Our guest, Fenwick employment lawyer Sheeva Ghassemi walks us through the steps on handling terminations legally and compassionately.

We cover:

• Common grounds for termination including poor performance and reorganization
• How behavioral-based performance issues can be harder to support than job description performance issues
• How to handle terminations legally and with fairness and compassion
• The importance of documentation and performance management in the termination process
• How to conduct termination meetings
• When and how to cut off access to company resources and ensure compliance with state-specific requirements