How to Terminate an Employee

This article guides employers on terminating employees, covering individual and group terminations, rehiring, and severance pay.

Jeffrey Mo avatar
Written by Jeffrey Mo
Updated over a week ago

Terminating employees is tough but necessary for a company's betterment. This article offers guidance on individual and group terminations, rehiring, and severance pay.

This article guides you on how to change an individual employee's status to "terminated" in Fingercheck, including setting a termination date and reason if necessary. It also explains how to pay terminated employees accurately and create a manual check for additional compensation owed. The article also provides steps to change the status of multiple employees to terminated simultaneously and reactivate a previously terminated employee. Additionally, it highlights important considerations regarding terminated employees' access to their employee portal and PTO policies.

Please note that the information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. It is recommended that you consult with a legal advisor for specific guidance regarding terminating an employee in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.


Change the Status of an Individual Employee to Terminated

In this section, we will guide you through the process of changing an individual employee's status to "terminated" in Fingercheck. This process includes setting a termination date and, if necessary, a termination reason.

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Click the EMPLOYEES tab, and click the employee's number to open their profile.

  3. Under Personal, click Position and Rates.

  4. Click the Edit icon (pencil) for the Status & History section.

  5. From the Employee Status drop-down list, select T-Terminated.
    For information about creating employee statuses, see How to Create and Set Employee Statuses.

  6. Confirm the termination in the confirmation windows that appear.

  7. Enter a Termination Date.

  8. (Optional) Enter a Termination Reason.

    Termination reasons are set on the SETUP tab > System > Termination Reasons. (See How to Create and Set Employee Statuses.)

  9. Click Save.

Important:

Once an employee's status is changed to terminated, they will be automatically removed from all clocks and locked out from all devices. This means that they will no longer have access to their employee portal. Therefore, it is crucial to advise terminated employees to download and save all necessary documents, such as pay stubs and tax forms, before their access is revoked.


Understanding Payroll for Terminated Employees in Fingercheck

When an employee is terminated in Fingercheck, you may still see them in your payroll. This is because the employee needs to be paid for the last pay period they worked, regardless of the reason for termination. If the employee was terminated in the middle of a pay period, they will always be paid for the pay period where they partially worked.

For hourly employees, they will be paid for the hours they worked during the pay period. For salaried employees, they will be paid their full salary for the pay period, even if they were terminated in the middle of it.

The amount of pay due to the terminated employee will depend on the circumstances surrounding their departure. If the employee was terminated without cause, they may be entitled to a severance package or other compensation. If the employee was terminated for cause, they may not be entitled to any additional compensation.

To ensure that the terminated employee is paid accurately and in a timely manner, you can create a manual check using the Severance Pay code or other applicable earning codes for any additional compensation owed to the terminated employee. Once the final payment has been made, the terminated employee will no longer appear in your payroll.


Create a severance check

To create a severance check, you'll first need to create an earning code for severance pay. Go to the SETUP tab > Payroll > Earnings. Click Add. Click the Add button for Severance Pay. Click OK in the confirmation window. Click the X in the top-right corner to close the Add Earning panel. To make changes, click the Edit icon (pencil) next to the new code, and make your changes.

After creating the severance pay earning code, you can utilize it to generate a manual check for the employee. For instructions on how to create a manual check, refer to this article and make sure to use the newly created severance earning code.


Change the Status of Multiple Employees to Terminated Simultaneously

When it comes to terminating multiple employees at once, employers need to have an efficient and organized approach. In this section, we will show you how to use Fingercheck's Mass Change feature to update the status of multiple employees to "terminated" simultaneously.

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Click the EMPLOYEES tab.

  3. Select the checkboxes next to the employees you want to terminate.

  4. Click the Quick Actions button (hamburger icon), and select Mass Change.

  5. From the Change Type drop-down list, select Status.

  6. From the Change To drop-down list, select T-Terminated.

  7. Click OK.

  8. Confirm the number of employees you are terminating, and click Continue.

Important:

Once an employee's status is changed to terminated, they will be automatically removed from all clocks and locked out from all devices. This means that they will no longer have access to their employee portal. Therefore, it is crucial to advise terminated employees to download and save all necessary documents, such as pay stubs and tax forms, before their access is revoked.


Reactivate an employee you have terminated

Sometimes, employers may need to reactivate a previously terminated employee. In this section, we will walk you through the process of reactivating an employee in Fingercheck. This process includes updating their status to "active" and setting a rehire date.

  1. Log in to your Fingercheck account as an Administrator.

  2. Click the EMPLOYEES tab, and click the employee's number to open their profile.

  3. Under Personal, click Position and Rates.

  4. Click the Edit icon (pencil) for the Status & History section.

  5. From the Employee Status drop-down list, select A_Active.

  6. In the Rehire Date field, enter the date of rehire.

  7. Click Save.

  8. Click OK in the confirmation pop-up windows that appear.
    These messages confirm that the clocks were updated with the reactivated employee

Important:

When an employee is terminated, their PTO accrual stops as per the company policy. However, if you reactivate the employee, their PTO policies will begin to accrue again based on the company's accrual policy. If you want the rehire date to be considered as the employee's start date for PTO accrual, it's essential to ensure that the PTO policies' "use rehire date" option is selected.


Thank you for using Fingercheck. If you have any questions on this article's topic, you can reach out to our team at 1-800-610-9501, or use the chat option below.

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