Give him one immediately using your small company performance review form stressing his work-related problems. In either case, you have much more legal exposure than with a low-risk dismissal. If you have an employee that exhibits any of these early warning signs of insubordination, here's how to stop the problem before it gets worse. Writing this letter is not a pleasant task but it is important to do it with proper care and attention.

If Rick is working the system, he'll hire an unethical lawyer and say there was another "real" reason you separated him. For over 150 years, the law-of-the-land has been you could fire any employee for a good reason, for a bad reason or for no reason at all. Also, a worker could leave the supervisor for any reason. When you have a insubordinate employee, you should carry out the worker dismissal process properly. Even if you think the jobholder is ineligible for unemployment, you must inform him how to file anyway. In addition, you must make sure the reasons for lay off are for problems not related to the scope of FMLA. This is why it's so hard to fire an employee based on "at will" alone. If the small company doesn't have a conference room available, then use another boss's office, or use your own in a pinch. Finally make sure you include the effective termination date, and any discussions you had about dismissal with the employee. A insubordinate individual can easily be a safety hazard for your other workforce as well as for him or herself. Get an original signature from the individual that he or she received the notice. Here is an employee separation notice sample.