An employee termination letter is a letter written by an employer and addressed to an employee. Other common names for this letter are a pink slip, a contract termination letter, and a letter of separation. This letter is a formal notification of the termination or end of an employee’s employment with a specific organization. Through this letter, an employer fires an employee and puts an end to his contract with the employer’s organization. The company policy regarding the notice period is considered before writing this letter.
An employer may terminate an employee for various reasons; some are company-specific, while others are employee-specific. Examples of former ones are:
- Poor economic conditions and recession.
- Organization’s financial issues and layoffs
- Employee redundancies.
- Lack of business or a slower market.
- Client demands and pressures.
The employee-specific reasons could be:
- The poor performance of the employee.
- Incompetence and incapability.
- Lack of teamwork skills.
- Unprofessional or inappropriate behavior.
When an employer deems an employee to be unproductive and not contributing to financial gains, he will make the decision to terminate the employee. For notifying and informing the employee, he would then write a letter or edit a template already available either in the company records, online sources, or programs, such as Microsoft Word.
The template can be easily customized as per the requirements, saving time, cost, and effort. For different situations, letters are written with the required variations. However, generally, the following details are included in all employee termination letters:
- Date
- Details of the employee.
- Details of the employer.
- Notification of termination
- Reason for termination.
- Date of effect.
- Clearance of dues
- Return of company assets and equipment
- End of any fringe benefits, insurances, or benefits bestowed by the organization.
- Signature.
This letter is a formal document that is kept in the employee file and can be used as a reference if the employee reapplies to the same organization in the future.
Sample Employee Termination Letters and Emails
#1
This is a termination note issued by HR on account of the following reason:
You are accused of harassing our senior employee, Miss Jennifer. In spite of giving repeated termination warnings, you did not change yourself. We have also witnessed incidents of the same kind with your fellow workers. It is very shameful for us to call you our worker. You have ruined the company’s reputation. This is an open violation of the organization’s policies, and we are terminating you for this reason. You will not be given a chance to speak on your behalf. Please return all the office belongings under your control to the admin office before [mention date].
#2
Please be informed that on [mention date], your employment is ending with ABC Enterprise. For the past few months, we have not received satisfactory performance from your side. You performed poorly in our meeting with overseas clients. You behaved non-seriously with the customers and broke their trust in us. We warned you many times, but you did not satisfy us. We do not have space for such employees in our company.
#3
This letter has been written to bring to your attention your termination with immediate effect. A copy of this letter has been forwarded to the admin office and secretary-manager as well. This decision has been taken for violating the company’s rules and not amending your action.
On [mention date], your salary will be transferred to your account. Other health and insurance benefits will also be terminated with your termination. Please return the company’s vehicle, laptop, and other items for your use. As per the signed agreement, legal action will be taken against you if you are caught sharing the company’s secret data with a second party. If you have any questions, then please do not hesitate to ask.
#4
Please take this email as your job termination from ABC Organization. This decision has been made not to subordinate to the company’s bylaws. We have strong substantiation of your misbehavior with your supervisor. Verbal abuse is not permissible in the workplace, but you have consistently committed a violation.
You are hereby terminated on account of having no progressive spirit and neglecting repetitive warnings. All the proofs are attached to the email. You will get your pay slip on [mention date], and after that, you will not be entitled as a company employee. Please reply to this email with any questions.
#5
I am writing this note to inform you that, as of [mention date], you will no longer be a regular employee of our organization. This is a final decision, and no changes will be made to it. You were supposed to handle account calculations, but a huge difference of $100,000 has been reported. We set up an inquiry to investigate the matter and learned that you have been doing it for a long time. Not only will you be terminated, but legal action will also be taken against you. You will visit the office on [mention date] for legal proceedings.
#6
This is a termination letter indicating the end of your employment with our company as of [mention date]. This verdict is followed by your misdemeanor and delinquency with the company’s officials.
We warned you many times to attain performance goals and checked your evaluation report, but each time you dissatisfied us. On the basis of this, we are terminating you permanently. This will also bring an end to all health and educational benefits. The company will issue you the current month’s salary, so please visit the company on [mention date]. You can contact the admin office with any queries about your termination. We hope to see your progress in the future.
#7
Dear Louis, please take this email as your termination notice from ABC Organization. The company is in a severe economic crisis because there is no work in the field. For this reason, we are downsizing our employees. There were many other choices we thought about to replace our new items with outdated ones. This did not prove beneficial in our favor, and our sales went down. We have obliterated some positions, and your name is also included in the list.
We have a meeting with our board of directors on [mention date], and you are also invited there. We will discuss some additional benefits you will enjoy by securing a good position in another company.
#8
This is to inform you that you have been terminated from the position of Sales Manager at XYZ Limited. This is an irreversible decision and will be in effect on October 1, 20XX.
Over the last two years, you have been given three warnings for improving your performance and meeting your targets. Your low performance has given leverage to your subordinates, and we have seen an overall decrease in your department’s motivation. You have proven yourself to be an incompetent manager, and we cannot afford financial losses on your part.
We have informed the HR department to clear your dues until September 30, 20XX. All your fringe benefits, including health and medical insurance, will end on this date as well. You are requested to hand over the company car and laptop by October X, 20XX.
For any questions, you can contact the HR department at [TEXT].
Regards,
Ifra Gull.
File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad
Size 39 KB
See Also
Termination for violating company rules
Termination for misbehaving with management
Termination for fighting at workplace
Trainee employee termination
Termination due to poor performance