Have the jobholder sign the notice. If possible, the ideal reviewer is someone from the employee's protected class. For over 150 years, the law-of-the-land has been you could layoff any employee for a good reason, for a bad reason or for no reason at all. All this holds true for giving a reference over the phone as well. Typically, employers do not suspect these workers of this behavior.

Follow-up any commitments you made in the lay off meeting. In particular, we don't always have papers, we don't always terminate for a legal reason and dismissed workers will often sue us for bogus reasons. If you do, you will have greater success in protecting the small company from illegal dismissal lawsuits. Keep in mind that if there is a suit, a court can use your letter as proof against you and the firm. And, what can you do to prevent the employee from retaliating against your and your small business? In particular, you cannot terminate an employee because she is pregnant. If the company's employees form a union, then this presents a whole new set of legalities to deal with when sacking personnel. A low risk dismissal is one where the jobholder is unlikely to sue, and you have appropriately detailed a lawful reason for firing. In this case, you could layoff all personnel with a rating of 4 or 5. If you end up in a illegal layoff suit, the third recipient, the judge is not going to appreciate going through multiple pages of business jargon. Also, the general wording in your worker termination notification sample should set a respectful tone.