It's true a worker should know what the standard is before dismissal. Therefore, you should know how to dismiss an at will employee appropriately to keep yourself out of hot water. The bottom line is you cannot use at will employment as justification to fire based on reasoning that is unlawful. The act of taking an employee aside and criticizing them can be stressful and sometimes backfire. An example, certainly is the standard "horseplay" where employees carry out inappropriate physical antics.

In a perfect world, your company will never need to use the jobholder discipline form. If you have followed the proper procedures and have collected the right documentation, you incur no more risk by including the reason for layoff in your notice. Once you have this substantiation, you can lay off the worker. Misbehavior leads to low esprit de corps in the organization and reduces production, quality, and profit. Again, by securing solid proof that you're dimissing the pregnant employee for reasons other than the pregnancy will almost ensure that you will not face a pregnancy discrimination suit. Alternatively, you may unknowingly offend the jobholder with patronizing remarks or give her false hopes of another chance. Lastly, the next chapter (Chapter 2) gives you the improper reasons for firing workers. Good managers know that most workforce just need some feedback. During this meeting, make workers aware of the possibility of lay off. A problem employee can negatively impact the company by projecting a misrepresentation of the business onto potential clients.