We have an employee here in the state of Florida who has been known to not only make a scene in the workplace, but has also made false and disparaging remarks regarding his superiors and co-workers. This employee's actions have created a toxic working environment and he must be terminated. My problem is, from the time this situation began I have been stressing the importance of progressive discipline if we would have to terminate. Supervisors did not heed my warning and did not administer progressive discipline. Now they are ready to terminate this employee. From personal experience with this employee, I know he will not go quietly. What type of backlash could we expect from this situation? Due to his supervisory status, he has access to sensitive information that could possibly be altered/deleted if he chose to do so. Would it be prudent to have him escorted from the premises immediately following termination?

While the company may have a severance policy that requires notice, there is nothing that prevents the company from bring the employee into an office, telling him he is being terminated as of x date and advising him he will be escorted by security back to his office where he can clean out his personal belongings and then will be escorted off the premises. This is actually typical of IT personnel, they are generally escorted out of the building.

As for your progressive discipline, the only way that matters is if there is a written employee policy that requires and employee be given such discipline before they can be terminated. But that would be rare. Since most states are right to work states an employee can generally be terminated with little or no reason.

As to backlash, have security on call in case he gets violent or abusive.

The couple times I have been laid off, and they've been amicable but some of the other employees not so much, the first thing they do is change passwords and lock out keycards. Most places are smart enough that they can recover of anything an employee will do, but anything that is done will take a while to undo.

He should be escorted and watched as they clean out their desk. Make sure he's supervised. The best time to do this is a Friday afternoon. The one thing a boss of mine did when he laid off a few coworkers is that he sent everyone who's could be around the area home for the day and then did the lay off, so the if there was a scene there wasn't anyone around to witness it. Basically neuters the righteous indignation of the former employee.

Prepare for the worse case scenario. Just in case.

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Supervisors did not heed my warning and did not administer progressive discipline.

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Fire those bums too!

I have worked for companies with policies for probation (usually first 90 days), followed by some set of warnings and consequences. It IS a good idea for the future.
What does 'not go quietly' mean to you? Make a scene, destroy property, threaten to sue for a civil right (age, gender, race, etc)?
I agree that most firing where computers are involved are done with an immediate escort off the premises. Some won't let you near your computer, or it will be removed before you get back to get your belongings. Some pack then for you while you are being fired, and let you examine them out on the sidewalk.

It really depends on the policies and procedures set in place for your company. Do you have a policy for a certain number of write-ups prior to termination? If so, you have to follow that.

Being in IT, I expect to be escorted out. Goes with the territory, In fact I was shocked when I was laid off from my last job, they let go the whole dept, we were allowed to go back to our offices, unescorted and clean out and leave when we wanted to, Not that I would do anything, but it was unusual.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Being in IT, I expect to be escorted out. Goes with the territory, In fact I was shocked when I was laid off from my last job, they let go the whole dept, we were allowed to go back to our offices, unescorted and clean out and leave when we wanted to, Not that I would do anything, but it was unusual.

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They were going to let someone go at my father's company, a university, and told him that his employment was being terminated at the end of the week or month. The person sabotauged the systems there and it took 6-12 months to recover, but that was mostly due to an incompetent IT department.

Being an information security officer these situations need planning before you pull the trigger on the termination announcement.
As the employee enters the manager's office an IT person would remove folder access and freeze the mail account and user login account. The employee may claim that there is personal files on the computer; this can be resolved two ways 1) a local login by IT staff would allow the employee to copy files to a USB key; or 2) an IT person copies the files and mails a DVD or USB key at a later date (since the files are typically on Desktop or My Documents.