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    What Exactly Is A Layoff

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    Ruben Ghale
    A layoff is a temporary or permanent termination of employment due to positions being cut, financial issues, or lack of work. It differs from a termination in that the employee's actions are usually not the cause. Laid off workers can collect unemployment. Employers must be careful not to disguise terminations as layoffs and should avoid discrimination in layoffs. For large layoffs, employers must follow WARN Act notice requirements and legal counsel is advised. Good communication with employees during layoffs is important.

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    What Exactly Is A Layoff

    Uploaded by

    Ruben Ghale
    13 views2 pages
    A layoff is a temporary or permanent termination of employment due to positions being cut, financial issues, or lack of work. It differs from a termination in that the employee's actions are usually not the cause. Laid off workers can collect unemployment. Employers must be careful not to disguise terminations as layoffs and should avoid discrimination in layoffs. For large layoffs, employers must follow WARN Act notice requirements and legal counsel is advised. Good communication with employees during layoffs is important.

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    Layoff explained in brief.

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    A layoff is a temporary or permanent termination of employment due to positions being cut, financial issues, or lack of work. It differs from a termination in that the employee's actions are usually not the cause. Laid off workers can collect unemployment. Employers must be careful not to disguise terminations as layoffs and should avoid discrimination in layoffs. For large layoffs, employers must follow WARN Act notice requirements and legal counsel is advised. Good communication with employees during layoffs is important.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    13 views2 pages

    What Exactly Is A Layoff

    Uploaded by

    Ruben Ghale
    A layoff is a temporary or permanent termination of employment due to positions being cut, financial issues, or lack of work. It differs from a termination in that the employee's actions are usually not the cause. Laid off workers can collect unemployment. Employers must be careful not to disguise terminations as layoffs and should avoid discrimination in layoffs. For large layoffs, employers must follow WARN Act notice requirements and legal counsel is advised. Good communication with employees during layoffs is important.

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    What Exactly Is A Layoff And What Does It Mean (Legally)?

    While the term “layoff” is routinely used when discussing the workplace, the exact concept of what
    it means is subject to some confusion. Sometimes known by the term “downsizing”, a layoff is also
    frequently associated with the word “termination” in the minds of employees, as in modern times
    an employee who has been laid off often does not return to work. To make matters more confusing,
    a layoff is sometimes called a “reduction in force”, “rightsizing”, “workforce reduction”, “workforce
    optimization”, or any number of additional terms. Generally these are all euphemisms for what is in
    essence a layoff: a temporary suspension or permanent cessation of employment of an employee or
    group of employees due to certain positions being cut, dwindling finances, or work not being
    available.

    Layoffs should be differentiated from terminations. A termination is a voluntary or involuntary


    cessation of an employee’s employment due to either the decision of the employee or the employer.
    When the employee makes the decision, it is usually called a resignation. When the employer makes
    the decision, it is known as being fired. The reasons for a termination generally concern lack of
    performance, dishonesty, habitual lateness, theft, insubordination, etc., as opposed to a layoff
    where the employee’s specific actions usually have little to do with the cessation of employment.
    Workers who have been laid off can almost always collect unemployment from the State.

    Employers should be careful not to call a termination a layoff when in fact the employee is being
    fired. While employers sometimes attempt to soften the blow of being fired by calling it a “layoff”, it
    is generally best to be honest as to the reason for terminating an employees and avoid confusion, as
    any subterfuge can come back to bite the employer should an employee decide to sue over the
    termination. Understandably such honestly may affect an employee’s ability to use the employer as
    a reference.

    Employers should also realize that laying off an employee does not immunize the employer from
    legal liability for employment discrimination or harassment. If a motivating reason for “laying off” an
    employee is the employee’s race, gender, disability, national origin, ancestry, or sexual orientation,
    the employee may be able to claim unlawful discrimination in the exact same manner as they could
    if they were fired, even if the “layoff” is only termed temporary. An employee’s “protected activity”
    (ie., union activity, reporting of illegal activity) also cannot be a motivating factor for laying them off.
    Viewed more broadly, any employment actions including cutting of hours, reduction of benefits, or
    transfer of position should be carefully analyzed as to motive and the characteristics of the
    employees affected.

    Layoffs become more complicated if the employer is a large organization. The WARN act requires
    employers with more than 100 full-time employees to give affected employees at least 60 days
    advance written notice of an intended plant closing or mass layoff. The WARN act can be
    complicated, and employers planning such an action are well advised to discuss with legal counsel.

    In today’s climate layoffs have become commonplace, with employer’s streamlining their businesses
    or simply unable to support certain employees. Employers or employees facing such a situation
    should take some time to investigate the legal ramifications of such an event.
    A temporary layoff is an involuntary separation from employment for a specified period of time,
    generally 120 calendar days/ four months (specific terms depend on the applicable University policy
    or collective bargaining agreement). A temporary layoff that exceeds 120 calendar days/four months
    is treated as an indefinite layoff.

    Communications about Layoffs

    Good communication is absolutely critical in the planning and implementation of layoffs. While the
    material you have to present is not pleasant, employees must hear it directly and honestly from
    management not from the rumor mill.

    Two-way communication, which provides for information flowing to employees and for ideas and
    feedback flowing back to management, will make the layoff process smoother for you and your
    employees. Employees will feel they have some part in making and understanding decisions that
    affect them, while you may get some good ideas about how to bring about the budget savings you
    must make. Many managers find that the best format for communication is either a series of
    meetings with the whole unit, or meeting with smaller work groups followed by individual meetings
    with employees.

    Communicating with Employees


    Throughout the planning and implementation stages of a staff reduction, the most important thing
    you can do is to effectively and openly communicate with your staff.

     Keep employees informed right from the beginning.


     Solicit their input and ideas on how to consolidate work.
     Ask for suggestions regarding voluntary reductions in time or other suggestion for saving
    money.

    The recent trend toward downsizing leading to massive layoffs has been triggered by three factors:

     Decline or crisis in the firm - There is a decrease in the demand for the firms' products or
    services due to a recession in business climate and increased international competition.
     Technological advances enabling many companies to produce more with fewer people
     Organizational restructuring - modification of the firm's structure to become less
    hierarchical by cutting out the layer of middle management.   

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