Time to Retire

chec

We have a clerk who has been with us for almost 30 years. She will be 69 in May. Her performance has gone downhill over the past 12 to 18 months. She is making too many mistakes. She has been counseled about her mistakes, but we see not improvement. If there any way we can suggest that she retire and leave the company gracefully (we don't have a mandatory retirement age) instead of having to let her go for poor performance. Obviously, we don't want an age discrimination suit. Any help would be appreciated.

Don D

Unless I damned sure wanted an age discrimination suit, I would certainly not 'suggest to her that she retire and leave the company gracefully'. That is precisely what you will be inviting. Deal with her performance. Ignore her age like the plague it will bring you if you don't.

Balloonman

Exactly as Don says, oh no now I have agreed with him. Treat her as you would any 25 year old that works for you with the same performance issues.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 02-07-03 AT 11:15AM (CST)[/font][p]We all salute your being correct, on occasion, DJ.

Rockie

I agree with you guys. Sometimes when we try to be compassionate with long term employees whose performance has started to fail, we end up getting "bit in the butt", especially if there is a possibility of getting a nice "retirement windfall".

Theresa Gegen TX

By the way, a mandatory retirement age would be illegal.

Good Luck!!