Terminating the Employment Relationship

A. F OLLOW R ULES AND P ROCEDURES FOR T ERMINATION Regardless of the nature of the employment relationship or the reason for termination, it is crucial that an agency follow its rules, procedures, and in most cases past practices, when terminating an employment relationship. This principle cannot be emphasized enough because failure to follow rules, procedures and practices can result in having an otherwise valid termination overturned, or in some cases, lead to liability.

Sources of rules and procedures include:

Charter;

Municipal Code;

Personnel or civil service rules;

Department Rules;

Applicable MOUs or CBAs;

Administrative policies; and

Any other legislative act (i.e. creation of new job specification with designation of status).

An agency should also adhere to any unwritten practices it has established because a failure to follow that practice with an individual could lead to a discrimination lawsuit, where an employee would claim the agency treated them differently than others based on a protected category (e.g., race, sex, age, disability). B. C ONSIDER THE N ATURE OF THE E MPLOYMENT R ELATIONSHIP An individual’s employment relationship with an employer plays a crucial role in determining what due process the employee is entitled to, if any, and what reasons, if any, an employer must provide when ending the employment relationship. For instance, it may save an agency thousands of dollars to allow a contract employee’s contract to expire, rather than terminate the employee for cause two months prior to expiration of the contract term, and potentially face a lawsuit.

The sections that follow examine various employment relationships and how ending them differs depending upon the relationship.

1. A T -W ILL E MPLOYEES At-will employment is essentially the opposite of “for cause” employment, which is discussed in detail below. If an employee is at-will, then an employer may dismiss the employee with or without cause, with or without notice, with or without a reason, and without affording any right of appeal. In contrast, a “for cause” employee can only be dismissed with advance notice, with

Terminating the Employment Relationship ©2022 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 9