Where can I find employee layoff/termination letters online (free!).

May 13, 2005 10:27 AM

I'm in the position of having to layoff/terminate several employees due to program structure changes at a small non-profit agency (thus the "free" part, we have a tight budget). I have spent a couple of hours searching for templates for layoff/termination letters online with no luck. Can anyone point me towards a good online source for this?
posted by HuronBob to work & money (6 comments total)

Sorry about the bad news. I got some likely prospects using "redundancy" as one of my Google keywords. (courtesy of David Brent.)
posted by klarck at 11:17 AM on May 13, 2005

Try the HR Tools at Society for Human Resource Management?
posted by dpx.mfx at 11:27 AM on May 13, 2005

Nice synchronicity.
posted by dash_slot- at 2:17 PM on May 13, 2005

Are you planning to inform them of their fate using these letters? If so, I suggest strongly against doing so. They deserve the bad news delivered to them in person unless it is infeasible to do so (e.g. if they work in a far-off location), regardless of how difficult a conversation it is for you to have with them and however many of them there are.
posted by randomstriker at 11:11 PM on May 13, 2005

I would second the vote for informing them verbally in person if possible however these things usually require formal advice as well.

From a very quick google:

This seems like a reasonable example letter. I'd still recommend writing it personally HuronBob particularly given the nature of the enterprise.

-truth about their fate and date of termination (that's the word to search on by the way)
-reasons for it happening
-reinforce it wasn't their fault and that they work well
-advise of any steps to help them find further employment
-advise them of final payment details/wish them well/offer letter of recommendation

(I didn't look hard but couldn't easily find any letters from dpx.mfx 's link above)
posted by peacay at 3:13 AM on May 14, 2005

Thanks for the replies, folks...

And, yes, they will be notified verbally (and, you're right, I'm not looking forward to this!), the letter is a formality to document the event. I'm concerned about protecting the agency re all the legalities and was hoping to locate an online resource that covered all those bases.

peacay...thanks for the link, i had found that one as well..

The link dpx.mfx left looks like a great resource, but it's a subscription service that costs $145 a year... for this one time use I can probably find an attorney to look at this for less....

Thanks all...
posted by HuronBob at 6:00 PM on May 14, 2005