One of my clients from Brandon called to ask whether he, as an employer, could establish a policy of escorting fired employees out of his office when employment is terminated. My immediate response was “absolutely!”
While it would seem that awfully demoralizing to escort an employee from your office, as an employer, your first concern should be to make certain that your records are protected from sabotoge or theft. In our office, our clients’ records must be kept confidential and are safeguarded very closely. I would expect that all of our clients would feel the same about all their customer records. If that is the case, then why wouldn’t you want to make certain that your clients’ information is protected?
With that in mind, when an employment relationship is terminated, I suggest the following few steps be considered:
1. Make certain that you supervise the discharged employee’s collection of documentation, and thereafter escort them to the door.
2. Collect their key.
3. Change the user name and password on any computer of other device to which that they had access.
4. If you become aware of any theft of client information before discharge, you should consider what further actions are necessary to protect your clients.
While we do not practice in the area of employment law, we know these basic steps are useful and should be included in your employee manual. That way, your staff will not be surprised if and when an employee relationship with the company is terminated.
One final matter that you should also consider from a business perspective is the outlook of the discharged employee by your remaining staff. If you supervise your former employee packing their things and escorting them out of the office, some of your current employees may feel threatened. You can ease that a bit by talking to your employees about the importance of maintaining customer confidences which should result in protecting their employment in your business.
If you have any questions, you are more than welcome to contact me.
