Whatever mantra you inform yourself, you're running a business and if a worker hinders your performance and service level, then you are doing yourself a disservice by keeping them in a job. Once you have stated your grounds for separating, give the details of the dismissal package. More likely, you want to lay off her because her performance is below average or because the company can no longer afford the higher wages and benefits associated with her seniority. The first step you must take when dimissing a jobholder is to document everything. They will become poor-performing as they watch their co-jobholder do things he or she shouldn't be doing. This is especially important if your substantiation for dismissing involves rumors or eyewitness accounts from other workforce. This is especially true if you're dismissing the jobholder who "for cause" (intoxication on-the-job, sexual harassment, physical and verbal abuse, theft of business property, and the like). This note should say based on some recent incident and a careful review of the disgruntled individual's application materials, you suspect the worker's application is fraudulent. Only then can you layoff problem employees while minimizing the effects on the small company. My processes treat the insubordinate worker with a reasonable balance between her wants and your company circumstances. You can use a well written notice of dismissal to help you deal with all problems, legal and otherwise that arise from terminating a worker.

You may choose a recorded reprimand notification or a notification that is a little less detailed yet informative to the jobholder. This will make the layoff much less painful, since you're showing a personal vote of confidence in the jobholder (and showing the dismissal is on the account of financial issues rather than performance). Second if you have a case of insubordination, you can immediately terminate a worker. This employee may be a problem that your predecessor didn't have the guts to do anything about.