Should I fire her????

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I own a small company that contracts with the state to provide services to people with developmental disabilities. I have been in business for 20 years. All my team are super excellent...except...

First of all, it is contract 1099 work, so I don't really fire her, I would just terminate the contract, which is verbal so I can do whatever I want. She can also stop working for me whenever she wants.

She (NT) has been doing the work for me for 8 or 9 years. Her work is for the most part above average. The reason she isn't excellent is 1) she only does her share and does not willingly help out with the entire team, but more importantly, her documentation is not good enough to pass the annual state evaluations.

She has been the cause of low team evaluations for the past two years. I told her this was not acceptable and she must include in her documentation the following things, and listed them, A, B, C, D, including also handouts from the state reviewer indicating exactly what is looked for AND templates for her to use that meet the documentation deadlines.

So this is year three of the really tough state reviews and I looked through her submissions and they were inadequate. I sent her an email and told her exactly what needed to be changed, 1., 2., 3., 4., 5. I did not hear back from her. She did not respond to VM or texts. I finally got her by text and she texted me back that she fixed everything. OK. Good. I review the documentation again and IT HAS NOT BEEN FIXED THE WAY I TOLD HER TO FIX IT.

I texted her that she had to meet with me by Zoom and we would do these over together. She texted back: Not Today (which was Friday). I texted back that was okay, but definitely had to do it Saturday or Sunday. She said she was not available this weekend and she could meet me on Monday. I told her if she wanted to get paid, she needed to find time to meet with me Saturday or Sunday. She texted back No. It had to be Monday.

Now, this worker has had a LOT of time off, with full pay, because she has had a lot of surgery in June, July and August. The rest of the team has covered all her work while she was out.

She knows about the state reviews. We have been over her shortcomings in documentation more times that I can count. I have had to submit "Plans of Remediation" because of her shortcomings, which includes training her again. She has been doing this work for years. It's not like this is surprise or that she hasn't had training.

The downsides of letting her go are: it would reduce the number of clients my agency can handle and the income my agency takes in. She could take some of these clients with her if she were to become a solo provider OR join another agency. This seems unlikely because as of 7/1/21, no solo providers will be permitted, and most agencies pay way less than I do. But, she could do that. It would be difficult for me to find and train up someone new. I would probably lose income. I would be on the verge of falling below the minimum number of workers to qualify as an agency and then I would be out of business as of 7/1/21.

Last year, my state review fell to a depth I have never had happen in 20 years and it was due to her inability to follow instructions. If I continue to get bad reviews, I could lose accreditation. I am worried that this year I could get a lower number again because of her work.

I have not responded to her at all.

Then today, I got an email from her that basically said, if I make it clear I will pay her, she will make time for me on Monday.

My husband says to let her go. What do you think?

She needs an ultimatum, clearly implicating her as a liability to your business. I say if you need someone like this around for now, have them own their mistakes. You could even show her that her job is up for grabs unless this changes; it's honest if nothing else.

Do I want anyone to lose their job? No, so if one person has to so the rest of you don't, tell them.

Last edited by cberg on 05 Sep 2020, 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My evaluation would be that her above-average work performance (excepting documentation) does not weigh up the liability and risk she presents for you and your other employees.

Since she is affecting your business, I would say do not renew her contract.

I agree with League_girl: Do not renew her contract.

An employee who does not follow directions -- and them lies to you about following them -- does not deserve the privilege of working for you.

I've dismissed several people for doing exactly this, and not only did business improve, but so did morale.

I must say I am not surprised by the responses here. I have had to let three people go in the past, and I waited too long on all of them. My biggest lack in running the business is not being tough enough and letting problems like this go on too long.

I always worry about whether I am reading things correctly and want to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Thank you all for your responses.

You have to light a fire under her butt...

But don’t can her unless your evaluation falls short again.

Another suggestion I got was: Let her work this next year (and get the income from her clients) and let her go just before the next evaluation.

The state only monitors files for the people actively working for me. So, for example, the worker who retired in July, her clients aren't monitored - although if they are reassigned to me, for example, they are still monitored. So, thinking that way, I would have to let her go a bit ahead of time so I have time to straighten out the documentation and make sure I take care of the things that weren't done.

I'm not optimistic she can learn. She does not acknowledge my authority. And that is a problem. She had a good relationship with the worker who just retired, but not with any of the rest of us. That is a problem in a team effort.

Advantage to keeping her on for one more year is that I would get the income for one more year, give her one last chance.

But I would have to keep my frustration and inclination to get rid of her now under wraps and I am not very good at that.

The problem is, you have let her gotten away with this for so long, she knows she can get away with it. Just wait until she finally sees her contract is not renewed.

Yeah....that’s probably true.

Talk to her about “decreased funding” or something along those lines if she doesn’t measure up to the auditors.

I’m sorry she’s causing so much trouble for you.

This worker does not respect your authority at all which is a huge management obstacle. The way I see it you have two choices:

1. Define a probation period where she will know that she is under close observation with clear instructions regarding what she must correct in her performance.

2. Tell her that her contribution has been appreciated but following all efforts to assist her in improving serious deficiencies in her work performance you must, regrettably, find a reliable and compliable replacement.

In my opinion she sees you as a "soft touch" and doesn't consider you tough enough to make her tow the line. This most definitely creates a serious disparity between what you require from her and what your worker is prepared to give you because she does not apparently think that there will be any serious consequences if she makes no effort to improve.

I would give her a short probation period in order to meet your requirements and I would make it clear that she is out if she fails.

That seems logical, but I might suggest hiring a temporary worker to fill in behind her and then train that person. If as a result of an opening, the temp could transition into a full time employee seamlessly.

Your worker might read the tea leaves and vastly improve her performance or maybe not. Either way you have both bases covered.

Can you pay someone to fix her paperwork (yourself?) and charge that person's time against the lax worker's pay? If they are not completing their work, that seems fair to me. You could just say that you've hired them an assistant.
The best counsellor I've had was always behind on her paperwork, and when more of it was wanted by some micromanaging fools, she quit. The report forms had been developed on a large screen, and were hell to use in the field.

I greatly appreciate all the replies and advice.

I also met virtually with the 2 team members I consider the best workers and friends. We have come up with a plan that involves short term fixes and midterm goals and interventions. Decisions were made on the basis of how to make changes with the least disruption to clients and our agency and strangely enough, is probably best for the worker involved.

Now I just have to implement it.

And really, heartfelt thanks.