Breaking company policies, breaking the law, being intoxicated, losing qualifications, and reaching retirement age can be grounds for termination. Disciplinary procedures can reduce wrongful termination claims, but employers must have adequate evidence before firing.
Violating a company’s policies on numerous occasions despite warnings may be grounds for termination. Usually a person can be fired if she breaks a law or is caught intoxicated while working in a position where she could endanger herself or others. In some cases, a person may be forced out of her position because she has reached retirement age.
Many companies have clearly outlined disciplinary procedures that serve as effective tools to reduce the number of wrongful termination claims. A disciplinary procedure may include issuing a verbal and two written warnings and then firing a person on a fourth offense. In that case, if an employee repeatedly violates company policies and the indicated disciplinary procedure is followed, there is reason for termination.
In many jurisdictions, theft provides legal grounds for termination. If there is adequate evidence that a particular employee is guilty of theft, they can be fired even if there were no prior warnings. The same principle normally applies in the event of a violation of other laws. Employers should be careful, however, and realize that employees usually cannot be fired immediately for mere speculation.
Intoxication is often grounds for dismissal. While this includes illegal drugs, intoxicants don’t always have to be illegal. If a person is intoxicated or heavily under the influence of prescription drugs, such as medicinal marijuana, and works in a capacity such as driving a company vehicle or operating heavy machinery, they may be fired due to the safety risks they pose.
If a person loses his or her qualifications for a particular job, there are usually also legal grounds for dismissal. For example, a law firm may fire a disbarred attorney because he is no longer able to perform her role. In these cases, the requirement that a person can no longer meet must usually be established by a legal authority. The fact that a salesperson can no longer meet quotas, for example, would not generally be considered a legal loss of qualifications, although the sale of goods and services was why he or she was hired.
In most situations, termination of a person’s employment because of age is not permitted due to discrimination laws. However, in some cases, reaching retirement age may provide legal grounds for dismissal. Under some laws, termination is eligible for this reason if a person has access to a retirement plan that will provide a certain amount of benefits and the individual holds a certain type of position. Termination based on retirement age may also be permitted where there are laws requiring people to leave certain positions when they reach retirement age.
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