When an employee is going to be terminated, is it illegal to tell another non-management or non-administrative employee about the firing before telling the employee that is being let go?
Posted 05-11-2011
Ann Kiernan replies:
I don’t think that there is anything illegal about telling someone else first, but it is probably not a good idea. If there is a legitimate business reason connected with the termination, such telling a finance employee to manually prepare a final paycheck, or advising a security guard to wait outside the termination meeting room, or asking IT to cut off the employee’s email access, then I could see giving such advance notice. But if you do, please make sure all employees are cautioned to keep the information strictly confidential.
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