That is the point I am making. From an employment law point of view the man hasn't made his bed and hasn't done anything to fire him over unless your company has a written policy about termination for a felony arrest. The easiest and best thing to do is to show him the door for reasons only known to yourself and pay him a severance on the way out.

Leave vindictiveness to the courts and just wash your hands of the man.

Sure is some incorrect information being thrown around here.

yelp, The biggest focus should be figuring out how to limit your liability. The OP needs to set down with a Licensed TX employment lawyer to understand how to reduce his liability.

distinct difference between EEOC and Federal/state etc mandates and civil liability

But wait a minute...why meet with a lawyer? We have some self appointed experts right here...let's go!!!!

Employment specialized Lawyer. Ive seen a lawyer on here say the wrong thing,

Did he make bail?

Oh, you didn’t just go where I think you went.

Go with your gut feeling, this shouldn’t be discussed on an open public forum.

Just fire him and get it over with!

I've had to fire a lot of people over the years and I would always document why I fired them on their "exit interview" paperwork. "Failure to perform duties as required" "Excessive tardiness after repeated warnings" "Failed drug test" "Insubordination" "threatened or assaulted the Client after hours" "had sexual relations with XX" the list goes on & on in the oil field. People threaten law suits but it never happens, ever, if it was a justified termination. If it wasn't justified none of them would have ever been terminated.

Some were direct violations of that little hand book they signed when they hired on, others were not. Texas is a Right to Work State, but anybody can sue anybody over anything as well. ALL law suites I've ever seen have failed though.

Dude's in his 40's with a history, you already gave him a chance. That says something.

Cut his [censored] loose and hire a new guy, and I have and will absolutely communicate to a potential new employer what this guy is like if I'm ever called for a reference. Our circle is small and bad guys can't be part of the team.

I came on here to say I wouldn't use any legal advice from a bunch of "experts" on a hunting forum! Get an attorney.

Open records request might cost 25 bux. It will get you what you need.

There are plenty of attorneys who don’t know sic em from come here.

Unfortunately the best employment law attorneys are usually employed in house. The problems arise when you have mid level managers that go rogue and think employment law is intuitive, it is not. Its also very specific and ever changing, why general counsel isn't best bet for off the cuff advice.

Spent 25 years as a headhunter for IT professionals. Had a recruiting firm. Now retired. I never paid much attention to references from a candidate. I used LinkedIn to find out who I knew that had worked with them. My clients knew that I did that and it gave more credibility. My fee, to the employer, was 25% of the starting salary so the clients knew that I was only representing top talent.

I would hate to be judged on who I use to be.

Most previous employers will only confirm ending salary and dates of employment. They will seldom even say whether a person is eligible for rehire. They can be sued.

Agree^^^

How would this look to your other employees if you kept him on? This is your business. Everyone needs to know how serious you take it.

Sorry you’re in this situation, but he owns all of what’s happening to him.

I let the guy go on Thursday. I am not sure if he knows it yet or not though. He is still in jail. I mailed him a letter and left him a message. Not really sure how else to communicate with him being that he is incarcerated. I don’t have any contact information for him other than his cell phone and address and he is a single guy.

From what I gather the decision to terminate his employment was kind of a moot point. It doesn’t appear that he is going to be able to bond out and with his priors and multiple felony charges he is likely going to be locked up for a while.

At this point, he probably assumes he’s fired anyway.

Job Abandonment.

Good decision.

Now he can collect Unemployment

I fired a guy I caught drinking moonshine and getting jiggy with his girlfriend in his office. He still got unemployment. It can happen no matter how well you document it or follow protocol.

People who are incarcerated don't qualify for unemployment.

Not for repeated no call no show, If the OP doesnt have a employee hand book stating the policy he “may” win an appeal but I doubt it goes that far since the kids hasnt bonded out yet.

Won't happen. He was fired for cause. If he was laid off then he can collect unemployment benefits.

I fired a guy several years ago for cause and he tried to get unemployment and they told him to pound sand.