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Termination of employment or separation of employment is an employee's departure from a job and the end of an employee's duration with an employer. Termination may be voluntary on the employee's part, or it may be at the hands of the employer, often in the form of
dismissal (firing) or a
layoff. Dismissal or firing is usually thought to be the employee's fault, whereas a layoff is generally done for business reasons (for instance, a business slowdown or an economic downturn) outside the employee's performance.
Firing carries a stigma in many cultures and may hinder the jobseeker's chances of finding new employment, particularly if they have been terminated from a previous job. Jobseekers sometimes do not mention jobs from which they were fired on their resumes; accordingly, unexplained gaps in employment, and refusal or failure to contact previous employers are often regarded as "red flags".
Dismissal
Dismissal is when the employer chooses to require the employee to leave, usually for the reason that is the employee's fault. The most common colloquial terms for dismissal in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
are "getting fired" or "getting canned" whereas in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
the terms "getting the sack" or "getting sacked" are also used.
Layoff
A less severe form of involuntary termination is often referred to as a
layoff (also ''redundancy'' or ''being made redundant'' in British English). A ''layoff'' is usually not strictly related to personal performance but instead due to
economic
An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
cycles or the company's need to restructure itself, the firm itself going out of business, or a change in the function of the employer (for example, a certain type of product or service is no longer offered by the company, and therefore jobs related to that product or service are no longer needed). One type of layoff is the aggressive layoff; in such a situation, the employee is laid off but not replaced as the job is eliminated.
In an economy based on
at-will employment
In United States labor law, at-will employment is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason (that is, without having to establish " just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. fi ...
, such as that of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, a large proportion of workers may be laid off at some time in their life, and often for reasons unrelated to performance or ethics. Employment termination can also result from a probational period, in which both the employee and the employer agree that the employer is allowed to lay off the employee if the probational period is not satisfied.
Often, layoffs occur as a result of "downsizing", "reduction in force" or "redundancy". These are not technically classified as firings; laid-off employees' positions are terminated and not refilled because either the company wishes to reduce its size or operations or lacks the economic stability to retain the position. In some cases, a laid-off employee may eventually be offered their old position again by their respective company, though by this time, they may have found a new job.
Some companies resort to ''attrition'' (''
voluntary redundancy
Voluntary redundancy (VR) is a financial incentive offered by an organisation to encourage employees to voluntarily resign, typically in downsizing or restructuring situations. The purpose is to avoid compulsory redundancies or layoffs.
Reasons
A ...
'') as a means to reduce their workforce. Under such a plan, no employees are forced to leave their jobs. However, those who do depart voluntarily are not replaced. Additionally, employees mayo resign in exchange for a fixed amount of money, frequently a few years of their salary. Such plans have been carried out by the
United States Federal Government
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fe ...
under President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
during the 1990s, and by the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
in 2005.
However, "layoff" may be specifically addressed and defined differently in the contract articles in the case of unionised work.
Termination by mutual agreement
Some terminations result from a mutual agreement between the employer and the employee. When this happens, it is sometimes debatable if the termination was indeed mutual. In many of these cases, it was initially the employer's wish for the employee to depart, but the employer offered the mutual termination agreement to soften the firing (as in a ''forced resignation''). But there are also times when a termination date is agreed upon before the employment starts (as in an employment contract).
Some types of termination by the mutual agreement include:
*The end of an employment contract for a specified period (such as an
internship
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
)
*
Mandatory retirement
Mandatory retirement also known as forced retirement, enforced retirement or compulsory retirement, is the set age at which people who hold certain jobs or offices are required by industry custom or by law to leave their employment, or retire.
As ...
. Some occupations, such as commercial
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
s, face mandatory retirement at a certain age.
*Forced resignation
Changes of conditions
Firms that wish for an employee to exit of their own accord but do not wish to pursue firing or forced resignation may degrade the employee's working conditions, hoping that they will leave "voluntarily".
The employee may be moved to a different geographical location, assigned to an undesirable
shift, given too few hours if
part-time
Part-time can refer to:
* Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job
* Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student
* Part Time
Part Time (styliz ...
,
demoted (or relegated to a menial task), or assigned to work in uncomfortable conditions. Other forms of
manipulation may be used, such as being unfairly hostile to the employee and punishing them for things other employees deliberately overlook.
Often, these tactics are done so the employer will not have to fill out termination papers in jurisdictions without
at-will employment
In United States labor law, at-will employment is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason (that is, without having to establish " just cause" for termination), and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal (e.g. fi ...
. In addition, with a few exceptions, employees who voluntarily leave generally cannot collect
unemployment benefits
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
.
Such tactics may amount to
constructive dismissal
In employment law, constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge or constructive termination, occurs when an employee resigns as a result of the employer creating a hostile work environment. Since the resignation was not truly volu ...
, which is illegal in some jurisdictions.
Pink slip
Pink slip refers to the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
practice, by a
human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...
department, of including a discharge notice in an employee's pay envelope to notify the worker of their involuntary termination of employment or
layoff.
The "pink slip" has become a
metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
for the termination of employment in general. According to an article in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', the editors of the ''
Random House Dictionary
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' is a large American dictionary, first published in 1966 as ''The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: The Unabridged Edition''. Edited by Editor-in-chief Jess Stein, it contained 315, ...
'' have dated the term to at least as early as 1910.
The phrase may have originated in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
. When the United Booking Office (established in 1906) would issue a cancellation notice to an act, the notice was on a pink slip. Another possible etymology is that many applications (including termination papers) are done in
triplicate
Triplicate typically refers to a document created three times simultaneously, as with carbonless copy paper.
Triplicate may also refer to:
*Del Norte Triplicate, a newspaper in Crescent City, California
*Triplicate (horse), a race horse owned by ...
form, with each copy on a different color of paper, one of which is typically pink.
In the
UK and, until 1 January 2019 in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, the equivalent of a pink slip is a
P45; in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
the equivalent is known as a C4.
Rehire following termination
Depending on the circumstances, a person whose employment has been terminated may not be able to be rehired by the same employer.
If the decision to terminate was the employee's, the willingness of the employer to rehire is often contingent upon the employee's relationship with the employer, the amount of notice given by the employee before departure, and the employer's needs. In some cases, when an employee departs on good terms, they might be given special priority by the employer when seeking to rehire.
An employee who an employer fired may not be eligible for rehire by the same employer, although in some cases, it is usually related to staffing issues.
Employment can be terminated ''without prejudice'', meaning the fired employee may be rehired for the same job in the future. This is usually true in the case of layoff.
Conversely, a person's employment can be terminated ''with prejudice'', meaning an employer will not rehire the former employee for the same job in the future. This can be for many reasons: incompetence, policy violation, misconduct (such as dishonesty or "zero tolerance" violations), insubordination, or "attitude" (personality clashes with peers or bosses).
Termination forms ("pink slips") routinely include a set of check boxes where a supervisor can indicate "with prejudice" or "without prejudice".
For example, public school teachers in
New York who are laid off are placed on a ''Preferred Eligible List'' for employment in the
school district
A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations.
North America United States
In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
where they were laid off for seven years from the date of layoff. If a teacher who was laid off applies to fill a job opening, they are given priority over other applicants.
See also
*
Employee offboarding Employee offboarding describes the separation process when an employee leaves a company. The offboarding process might involve a phased transfer of knowledge from the departing employee to a new or existing employee; an exit interview; return of any ...
*
Labour law
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
*
Letter of resignation
A letter of resignation is written to announce the author's intent to leave a position currently held, such as an office, employment or commission.
Historical
A formal letter with minimal expression of courtesy is then-President Richard Nixon' ...
*
Termination of Employment Convention, 1982
*
Turnover (employment)
In human resources, turnover is the act of replacing an employee with a new employee. Partings between organizations and employees may consist of termination, retirement, death, interagency transfers, and resignations.Trip, R. (n.d.). Turnover-St ...
References
External links
*
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development resources on dismissalin the UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Termination Of Employment