Anyone terminated a maid early before?

[marlie]

I am about to fire my second maid - she joined us three months ago just before the birth of my second child. She has worked reasonably hard and is a good cleaner, but she doesn't really have the touch with children - still can't handle my older child (who is 2 year and 4 months old) and is very rigid with the new born.

I have never fired anyone before and I am dreading it. I also feel sorry because she has tried pretty hard but I think there is definitely a mismatch in skills and improvement has been slow - it is better for her to move on.

Is there any way that I could make it easier for her? Would a good release letter help? If I gave her a good reference, could she turn around and sue us for wrongful dismissal?

 

[rani]

Marlie,

That's a tough one! I was at a luncheon a while back on Employment issues and the speaker did mention that you can get sued for writing a false reference letter. Immediately, a couple of people asked if it applied to DHs too. Unfortunately, the speaker wasn't able to confirm.

Perhaps when you write her release letter you can focus on her strengths only. Interested employers will check references, so when they do call you can be honest and tell them that she failed to form a bond with your kids.

HTH.
Rani

 

[mary_spc]

Hi Marlie,

We dismissed our first helper when I was in my 2nd trimester. She had only been with us about 2 1/2 months and it was dreadful firing her. But we just did not connect with her nor did we feel we could trust with our newborn during the day while we were at work.

I kept questioning myself whether we were being too harsh, but I believe our expectations are much higher when there's a baby involved. After her, we found a wonderful helper who has been with us for 2 yrs, so for our family, it was certainly the right decision.

Dismissing anyone is always very tough & I agree with Rani on a ref letter that emphasis her strengths. It only needs to be short & direct; and offering future employers to contact you only if you wish. Another suggestion is to compensate her generously, though this is purely subjective.