Truthful Terminations May Lead To Better Consequences

We are often asked what, if anything, employers should tell an employee about the reasons for the employee's termination, especially if the termination is abrupt.

We tell employers to tell the truth.

The truth, by the way, does not mean silence about the reasons for termination. Withholding the reason for a termination will not shield an employer from litigation. In fact, for many terminated employees, hearing phrases such as "we have decided to go in a different direction" raises more questions than it answers and may only provide fodder for a lawsuit.

Likewise, nothing can be gained by misstating the reasons for an employee's termination. It is easy to blame a termination on events outside someone's control – such as a terminations resulting from a sale of a business or the closing or relocation of an office, or other reasons that the employee should not take personally. If one of those reasons is truly the reason for the termination, no further guidance is