Employee Termination Checklist

Capture the separation classification before drafting any documents — voluntary, involuntary-for-cause, or layoff/RIF — because each path has different downstream obligations (severance eligibility, WARN notice, exit interview, unemployment contestability). Confirm the effective last day with the hiring manager and legal.

Final-pay deadlines vary by state and by separation type. California requires same-day final pay for involuntary separations and 72 hours for resignations; most states require payment by the next regular payday. Each day late in CA accrues waiting-time penalties up to 30 days of wages.

Route the severance agreement and general release through employment counsel before delivery. For employees 40+, the OWBPA requires 21 days to consider and 7 days to revoke; group layoffs require 45 days plus disclosure of selection criteria and ages of affected and non-affected employees in the decisional unit.

Federal WARN requires 60 days written notice for plant closings or mass layoffs at employers with 100+ employees affecting 50+ workers or 33% of the workforce at a single site. State mini-WARN laws (CA, NY, NJ, IL) trigger at lower thresholds and may require longer notice or notice to additional parties — confirm with counsel before separation date.

Block a private space, confirm the manager and an HR witness can attend, and prepare the termination packet (separation letter, final-pay summary, COBRA notice, 401(k) distribution form, unemployment information). Hold the meeting early in the day and early in the week when possible.

Deliver the message clearly in the first 60 seconds — do not bury the lede. Walk through the termination packet, confirm last day worked, and answer benefits and final-pay questions. HR documents what was said and what was provided; the manager focuses on delivery.

Collect physical access items at the meeting: ID badge, office keys, parking pass or transponder, garage fob, uniforms, and any branded customer-facing items. Log each returned item against the asset register so nothing shows up missing in the next audit.

Coordinate with IT for the asset list — laptop, mobile phone, tablets, monitors, hotspots, MFA tokens. For remote employees, ship a prepaid return box with a tracked deadline; document serial numbers in the asset register before reissuing equipment.

Collect physical cards and confirm with finance that pending charges are reconciled. Cancel the card with the issuer the same day rather than relying on it being unused — a forgotten recurring charge after separation is the most common audit finding.

Deactivate the badge in the access-control system at the time the meeting concludes — not the next morning. Notify reception and security so the employee is escorted out and cannot reenter unaccompanied.

Suspend the mailbox, set an auto-reply directing senders to the manager, and forward incoming mail to the manager for the retention window defined by your records policy (typically 30–90 days). Archive the mailbox per the litigation-hold policy before deletion.

Trigger the offboarding workflow in the HRIS (Workday, BambooHR, Rippling, Gusto) so SSO de-provisioning cascades to downstream apps. Confirm VPN, jump-host, and any direct AD/Okta accounts are disabled — SSO de-provisioning sometimes leaves orphaned local accounts behind.

Walk the SaaS inventory — Slack, Salesforce, GitHub, AWS, Notion, Figma, ATS, payroll. Reassign owned records and shared drives to the manager before deactivating; revoking access first orphans documents the team needs.

Any vault entry, API key, service account, or shared password the employee had access to should be rotated. Skipping this is the most common SOC 2 access-management finding; the auditor expects rotation evidence with a timestamp tied to the separation.

Include all earned wages through the last day, accrued and unused PTO where state law or policy requires payout (CA, CO, MT, NE, ND require it; many states defer to policy), unpaid expense reimbursements, and any commission or bonus owed under the plan. Deduct outstanding advances or relocation clawbacks per the signed agreement.

For California involuntary separations, cut and deliver the final check at the meeting — not at next payroll. For voluntary CA separations with 72-hour notice, pay on the last day; without notice, within 72 hours. For most other states, payment is due by the next regular payday.

The plan administrator must send the COBRA election notice within 14 days of receiving notice of the qualifying event (44 days if the employer is also the plan administrator). The election period is 60 days from the later of the notice date or coverage loss date. Use certified mail or a vendor with delivery proof — disputes hinge on whether the notice was received.

Send the recordkeeper's distribution package covering rollover to IRA or new employer plan, lump-sum cash distribution with tax consequences, or leaving the balance in plan if above the cash-out threshold ($7,000 since 2024). Include the 402(f) special tax notice — required by ERISA before a distribution.

Many states require employers to provide a separation notice or unemployment-insurance pamphlet at termination — CA Form 2320 (For Your Benefit), NY Form IA 12.3, NJ Form BC-10, IL CLI-111L, CT UC-61. Document delivery; the absence of the required notice can expose the employer to penalties and extended UI liability.

Change status to terminated with the correct termination reason code — voluntary, involuntary, RIF, retirement, deceased — because the code drives downstream EEO-1 reporting, turnover analytics, and unemployment claim responses. Confirm the change cascades to payroll and benefits.

File the signed separation agreement, release, final-pay acknowledgment, equipment-return log, and required-notice delivery receipts in the personnel file. Retain per federal and state record-retention rules — I-9s for 3 years post-hire or 1 year post-separation (whichever is later); payroll records 3 years; ADEA-related agreements 1 year minimum.

Hold the exit conversation with HR, not the departing employee's manager. Cover reason for leaving, manager and team feedback, compensation and benefits, and whether the employee would consider returning. Aggregate themes quarterly for the talent review — individual answers stay confidential.

Send the agreed-upon team announcement, remove the employee from internal distribution lists, calendars, on-call rotations, and customer-facing org charts. Coordinate the external announcement timing with the manager — abrupt removals from public lists tip off customers before the message is ready.