Gross misconduct: Released a toxic gas when involved in horseplay (Can terminate immediately.) Do not Tolerate Gross Disobedience. It shows a jury you carefully considered the layoff before carrying it out, and you gave the problem worker "due method." It also shows someone else in the company supported the decision. In short, you must give the real reason regardless of how hard it's on the worker. I call it my Dismissal Risk Estimate & Protection System(tm) (TREPS). Like terrible performance, don't fire a worker right away for minor misbehavior. A jobholder can still sue you for wrongful lay off. Separating a jobholder seems as easy as saying "you're fired" but this simply is not the case. If counseling and warnings fail, the business owner or Personnel director should dismiss the bad employee and hire a better person for the job. However, always consider this type of reprimand as a tool for improvement first rather than a means of ridding the company of a difficult employee.

By the way, it'll be easier to sell this to the worker (and to his coworkers) that his new assignment is a "lateral" move. A jobholder can still sue you for illegal separation. Is it possible to avoid insubordination and separating? Give the worker his final paycheck in the dismissal meeting if possible. *If you have decided to separate the jobholder committing theft, have the lay off papers drawn up and cut a check for their remaining pay.