Can anyone please inform me of the Employment Law status of an Exit Interview?

Question

Do these have to be granted to an employee regardless of whether they have resigned or whether the company are refusing to prolong their employment status .ie - Can an employee be formally sacked by e-mail with little or no repercussion to the company? Please bear in mind this is also caught up in an "Unfair dismissal" dispute due to the company attempting to renege on a formal contract of employment. Thanks in advance guys!!

Answer 1

Which country are you in?
And are you really referring to an exit interview? An exit interview is an informal chat which some employers have with an employee when they are leaving the job - generally find out why they are leaving to try and see if they can improve their work practices.
Your other question asks whether an employee can be sacked by email - the answer is they cannot. Even if gross misconduct is involved, the employer has to hold a formal disciplinary hearing at which the employee has the right to be accompanied. The employee has the right to appeal before the final hearing at which s/he may be dismissed. Failure to go through this process means the employer can be taken to an ET - even if the reason for the dismissal was fair.
Probationery periods have no legal standing in UK employment law - they are just a management device.
Your question is a bit unclear, but that's my take on what you are asking.

Answer 2

Exit interviews are not required by employment law - some employers perform them, most do not. There is also no requirement in employment law to terminate employees in person - e-mail is tacky, but not against the law.

A contract is an agreement between 2 parties - there must have been something included about the expectations of you as an employee. If you did not meet the expectations you did not perform your part of the contract and there is a good chance your termination is valid.

Move on & find another job. If you have evidence that your termination was discriminitory - i.e. gender, age, religion, natural origin, etc - you could file a complaint with the EEOC.

Answer 3

There is no legal status to an exit interview. The company do not have to conduct one (it's usually done in their interest to keep a record of why staff are leaving and if there are problems that they need to address). You do not have to attend one if one is arranged.
Rather separate to this is the issue of whether an employer can sack you by e-mail. Well, then can, because they have. Whether this would be 'fair' is another issue. As has been explained above it would almost certainly be deemed to be unfair by an industrial tribunal, assuming you have worked there long enough to access one (and this will depend on the reason for the dismissal, but in kost cases it is 12 months). It will depend on whether this e-mail was at the end of a formal process or whether it has just come out of the blue (which is most irregular, highly unprofessional and probably unlawful).

Answer 4

There's no legal requirement for a company to have an exit interview with a departing employee.

It's legal to fire someone by email, but is rude at best - but there's no law against rudeness.

If there was a formal employment contract, then that WOULD be a legal issue, and if it wasn't followed, the employee would have legal recourse.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Companies are under no legal requirement to grant an exit interview to an employee. In the US, most companies employ "at will", meaning an employee can be terminated or leave at any time, with or without notice, with or without cause.

However, it IS illegal in the US to terminate an employee in retaliation for filing a labor claim, union grievance, safety or worker's comp report, etc.

If you work in the UK (as I suspect you might due to the "employment contract" reference), the labor laws will be different; however, retaliatory action is generally prohibited in most cases.

Best of luck.

Answer 6

None - some Companies don't even hold them.

You can be fired with no reason and with no notice during your 'trial' period (usually first 13 weeks), or if the Company is declared insolvent etc.

Once you have your Contract and have completed any trial, they have to follow their Disciplinary Process. Under some circumstances they can still fire your 'immediately' (eg. for criminal activity) - however if they failed to follow their own Process then it's an open&shut Unfair Dismissal.

Answer 7

you cant resign (after) a formal dismissal.
if they are in breach of your work-contract,then you can discuss weather you have any recourse to their decision,however, anyone who hasn't the balls to tell you straight out face to face ain't worth jacksh!t anyway.

Answer 8

I agree with fengirl2, it is usually to understand why they are losing staff and so they can correct where they are going wrong in future.

Answer 9

no legal requirement. companies hold them to help their retention policies.