When you’re starting to drown between employee concerns, payroll duties and helping your CEO -- HR Insider is there to help get the logistical work out of the way.
Need a policy because of a recent regulatory change? We’ve got it for you. Need some quick training on a specific HR topic? We’ve got it for you. HR Insider provides the resources you need to craft, implement and monitor policies with confidence. Our team of experts (which includes lawyers, analysts and HR professionals) keep track of complex legislation, pending changes, new interpretations and evolving case law to provide you with the policies and procedures to keep you ahead of problems. FIND OUT MORE...
PIP and Termination
Ask the Expert › PIP and Termination
0 Vote Up Vote Down
Karoline Verdi asked 1 year ago
Hi There, If I have a signed PIP from an employee and the performance don't improve can i terminate the employee at the end of the PIP term? 
I currently have a 2 months PIP in place with an employee located in Ontario 

Thank you,
1 Answers
0 Vote Up Vote Down
Rick Tobin answered 1 year ago
If an employee on a Performance Improvement Plan is not meeting the requirements of the plan, assuming you are meeting your requirements, then termination is the likely outcome. However, this should be a part of your termination policy. You should also have regular communication as part of the PIP, establishing the outcomes if performance doesn't improve at the start, and have a regular cadence of status/progress meetings. A PIP only works if both parties want the outcome to be a better working relationship, if your employee doesn't, or isn't capable of that, then they are not a good fit for the organization.
Karoline Verdi replied 1 year ago

Thank you!
We have provided several training sessions and have a mid-PIP check-in meeting next week
The employee is not willing to sign the PIP yet which I am pushing for
She is suggesting that she needs some signed warnings before we issue a termination but this is not my understanding – can you please confirm that the PIP as you discribed above is enough to issue a termination if the employee doesn’t improve?
Thank you

Rick Tobin replied 1 year ago

You are not required to give written or verbal warnings by law, your termination policy may dictate a sequence of events, but the PIP could and should trump that. The employee is not required to sign it either. What is required is that the communication is clear that failure to perform part or all of the PIP can result in termination. This communication needs to be verbal and written.

Moshin Shah replied 1 year ago

Just wanted to hop on this thread, would the termination based on the employee not performing well be considered termination with cause, meaning no severance pay?

Moshin Shah replied 1 year ago

Just wanted to hop on this thread, would the termination based on the employee not performing well be considered termination with cause, meaning no severance pay?