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Some employment law attorneys advise employers to state nothing on the termination notice or as little as possible about the reason for termination. This is to prevent you from writing something that could be used against you later if a terminated employee files a wrongful termination lawsuit or discrimination charge.
Other attorneys take the opposite approach. They advise employers to thoroughly document all disciplinary actions, including terminations. This statement serves as evidence in an UI appeal, but also, more importantly, would document that the employee was terminated for a legitimate reason instead of wrongfully terminated.
Consider the employer who discharges an employee because of poor job performance. The employer did not keep good records to document that performance and did not give a clear written warning about the unacceptable performance. The former employee then files a lawsuit alleging that they were terminated because of sex, race, pregnancy or some other discriminatory reason. If this employer specified the reason for termination on the termination notice, the employer could use the notice as evidence to counter the discrimination allegation.
You are not required to terminate an employee in person. You can terminate an employee by telephone, letter or any other means of communication. Remember that even if you do not inform an employee of their termination in person, the rules regarding final payment of wages apply. All final wages are due and payable immediately upon termination.1 You are not required by law to mail or otherwise deliver the final wages, except under the circumstances discussed in “Final Pay and Voluntary Quit: Less Than 72 Hours’ Notice” on this page.
1. Lab. Code sec. 201