Reuters - Service sector growth accelerated in October for the first time in four months, a report showed on Monday, indicating some areas of the economy had not succumbed to the housing slump and financial market turmoil.

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A Wisconsin printing plant named Quebecor dismissed a jobholder under its absenteeism policy. As of today, the date of termination, it is essential that you return any remaining company property that is still in your possession, as well as any company identification badges, computer log-in passwords or firm credit and debit cards. It eases tension among personnel who might otherwise get the idea the firm has no heart, and they might begin to imagine themselves as one day walking out the door empty-handed. If he still refuses to sign, you should bring another supervisor into this meeting and ask the supervisor to verify on your copy he saw you give the employee the warning. Make clear that if their behavior continues you will put them into progressive discipline which can eventually lead to layoff. Follow up with them by phone after a few days if need be. Again use progressive discipline to create satisfactory papers and prove you gave the sick and disabled employee chances to increase productivity. Here's how to prepare for this meeting:

From these 2 examples, you can see how tricky it is to fire someone when you don't apply your separation reasons consistently. After you have communicated to the jobholder the firing, ask the jobholder if he or she has any questions. Here's the guideline approach you'll find in most books: To keep out of court, you must thoroughly document the jobholder's bad performance or misbehavior before you separate him. If the employee says, "I need a moment." Then give it to her. Does the termination fit with precedent? Finally, the most common mistake I hear is something like, "We dismissed Joe because he just couldn't get the job done." You now know this isn't a layoff because you're not separating Joe owing to a business need. He wants to stop being such a hard ass or get out of here.".