Termination Meeting

Termination Meeting

Termination-Vacation Payout

South Carolina does not require employers to pay out eligible unused paid time off upon termination unless there is a policy in place stating paid time off will be paid upon termination. If there is no policy or in regards to payout, the SC Labor board may request documents for past terminations and evaluate how they were handled.


Terminations

As an employer, you can terminate an employee at-will and/or choose for the employee not to work out their notice period (assuming that there is no written contract/agreement that states otherwise). Typically employers will have the conversation with the employee towards the end of the day (makes it easier on you and them).


Once the decision to terminate employment has been made and you have checked any agreements that may contain clauses (i.e employment agreement, termination clause notice periods, bonus plans, stock plans, etc) you can plan for your termination meeting. Due to the sensitivity of terminations, you will want to give thought to when you notify the employee and the last day (in the event the employee wants to retaliate or try to obtain sensitive propitiatory information before departing). If there is a notice period - employer will provide 2 week notice to the employee; you may want to consider paying that out the remaining one week in lieu of having the employee continue to stay and work.


Avoid using words associated with a severance and payment "in lieu of".


Before the meeting, prepare information pertaining to:

  • Final working day  

  • Final Pay to include and PTO, commissions, bonuses, etc that may be due or you can have a final pay available at the meeting

  • Company Property that needs to be returned (Computers, Documents, Keys, cell phone, company credit cards, badges, etc)

  • Reconciliation of any company credit cards, employee loans, etc that the employee may have in their possession - if any

  • Notification for disabling system access to appropriate personnel (emails, alarms, banks, etc).


Attached are links to termination meeting checklist which helps with some final pay information as well. The documents are similar however one has more of a step by step for the meeting and the other has blanks to include information for your meeting.