What Employers and Employees Should Check Before Termination

1. Identify the legal status of the engagement

Start with whether the person is an employee, worker, fixed term employee, consultant or other category under the applicable framework. Job title alone may not answer the question; duties, control, remuneration and the relevant statutory definitions can matter.

Different categories can have different procedural and remedial consequences.

2. Read the appointment terms and workplace policies together

Notice periods, probation, disciplinary powers, confidentiality, garden leave, benefits and termination rights may appear across the appointment letter, employee handbook and later policy acknowledgements.

Check whether the employer followed its own documented procedure and whether any contractual conditions were waived or modified through consistent practice.

3. Distinguish misconduct, performance and ordinary separation

A misconduct based termination may raise different process questions from redundancy, poor performance, expiry of a fixed term arrangement or termination under a contractual notice clause.

The stated reason should be compared with warnings, appraisal records, show cause notices, inquiry material and internal communications.

4. Calculate notice and final dues separately from the dispute

Even where the reason for termination is contested, salary, notice pay, earned benefits, gratuity or other statutory/contractual dues may require separate calculation under the applicable law.

Keep payslips, bank credits, leave records, bonus/gratuity documents and final settlement calculations.

5. Preserve the record before access is cut off

Employees should preserve lawfully held employment documents before system access ends; employers should preserve the decision record and evidence supporting the action. Neither side should remove confidential information or alter records to improve a later case.

A clean chronology often resolves factual disputes faster than competing recollections months later.

Core documents

The appropriate forum or response usually becomes clearer once the employment record is assembled.

• Appointment letter, amendments and acknowledged policies.
• Performance, warning, disciplinary or inquiry records.
• Termination/resignation letter and proof of service.
• Payslips, benefits and final settlement calculations.
• Relevant emails and communications concerning the stated reason.