How to Terminate and NOT Get Sued with Andrea Paris

How to Terminate and NOT Get Sued with Andrea Paris

From Hire Power Radio Show by WRKdefined Podcast Network

January 8, 2026 · 30 min

About this episode

California employment attorney Andrea Paris discusses the risks and best practices associated with employee terminations to protect businesses from legal issues.

Two months before the holidays, Nadia—Integrator at a 120-person EOS-run logistics company—finally terminated a manager who was crushing morale and missing targets. The manager’s response (“I’ve spoken to an attorney about retaliation.”) exposed what leadership missed: a recent workers’ comp claim, intermittent leave, and overtime complaints—plus almost no documentation. The outcome was predictable: months of distraction, legal spend, and leadership bandwidth evaporating when execution mattered most. In this episode, California employment attorney Andrea Paris breaks down why terminations are one of the highest-exposure moments in the employment lifecycle—and how to build a clean, defensible process that protects your business without losing your humanity. What you’ll learn Why terminations are uniquely risky: emotion, money, identity, and the “narrative vacuum” created when evidence is thin The ≈90-day “recent activity” risk zone and the types of protected activity that can make timing look retaliatory The “no-surprise termination” principle—and the coaching cadence that makes it real The 90-day lookback audit checklist you should run before any termination decision Day-of…

People in this episode

Host: Rick Girard

Guest: Andrea Paris

Topics covered

  • termination
  • employment law
  • risk management
  • human resources

Keywords

  • retaliation
  • workers' comp
  • documentation
  • termination process

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Healing Career Wounds

Places: California

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