About The Offboarding Process
Offboarding, whether initiated by the company or employee, is a complex legal process. As requirements vary by jurisdiction, Remofirst will offer guidance on the procedure and requirements to ensure compliance with local regulations and most effective resolution for all offboarding requests.
At high level, offboarding process map would look like this:
- Offboarding request submitted to Remofirst with all requested details.
- We validate provided data and determine the most effective strategy and offer guidance on communication requirements and restrictions.
- Once we align and approve the strategy and terms, notice will be extended in accordance with legal requirements.
- Final invoice will be extended by Remofirst to prepare funds for final payout. Employees will receive their final pay either on the last working day or as part of our standard payroll cycle.
- Offboarding is completed, the employee profile is deactivated on the platform
- We will process the deposit refund back to you either as a credit for other active employees’ payroll or into your nominated bank account.
Key things to consider
1. Ownership:
- When hired via EOR, our local team is an official and legal employer to your employee. Therefore, in most cases, notice has to be provided by/to the local EOR team and only this notice will kick off the notice period.
- Remofirst's local teams are responsible for offboarding the EOR employee.
- An Offboarding Manager will guide you through the offboarding process and serve as the primary point of contact.
2. Jurisdiction:
Employee offboarding involves complex legal requirements that vary by country. To avoid legal risks like claims of unfair dismissal, it's essential to follow the proper procedures.
Compliance is our priority, and offboarding requirements set out in local legislation will take precedence over company policy.
Examples of such requirements: how notice is provided, statutory notice period, offboarding pay entitlement (i.e. severance, accruals, unused accrued leave), offboarding documentation, etc.
3. Termination frameworks
If the offboarding is company initiated, there are usually several options:
- Justified (with (just) cause) dismissal due to legally allowed reason, i.e. contract breach, gross misconduct, performance, company going out of business, etc. This usually has to be proved by the employer and might allow termination with reduced notice period and reduced compensation.
💡Evidence would be required to potentially provide justification to the court, so there are specific requirements to the format and procedure. At the very least, it should be proof of alleged wrongdoing, performance management plans and reviews, attendance records, and any other necessary documentation.
- Unjustified (without cause) termination - for cases when a company doesn’t have what constitutes proof or justified reason in the eyes of law. Then we are allowed to follow an unjustified dismissal procedure with full notice period and compensation which usually includes severance.
- Mutual termination - dismissal procedure used in some countries / cases when justified termination is not most efficient. In this case, company and employee would negotiate separation terms (within legal boundaries) to terminate employment amicably.
Based on country legislation and circumstances, Remofirst will advise which framework is most beneficial.
4. Restrictions:
- Employees can not be offboarded retroactively regardless of the reason behind such a decision. As long as the employee is on our payroll, they have to be paid until the contract is terminated.
- The employer is prohibited from offboarding an employee while they are on leave (parental, vacation, sick leave, pregnancy, etc.) or when they have special conditions.
- In most countries, employers are prohibited from deducting any amounts retroactively without employee consent.
- Usually, employers are restricted from withholding statutory payment for any reason.
5. Communication:
Before discussing termination with the employee, consult Remofirst to ensure compliance with local laws. Premature communication with the employee, including casual discussions about reasons or motives, could limit termination options or lead to challenges of unfair or unlawful termination in court, financial penalties, and reputational damage.
Therefore, it is preferred to conclude an employment relationship with an employee amicably. Our team will always provide recommendations on how to build communication with the employee around the offboarding decision and terms to achieve this.
How to kick off the process on Remofirst platform:
💡 Remofirst requires at least 2 business days to process the offboarding request, besides the statutory notice period.
Step 1. Go to the Team page on the side navigation menu, select employee you would like to offboard:
From the team tab, click on the employee's name to open the summary page.
Step 2. Scroll down and click “Request Offboarding” button
Step 3. Submit the request
💡 It won’t be visible to employee and Remofirst won’t communicate with the employee until the offboarding details are finalized.
Step 4: Share Details of the Offboarding Request
Please fill out this form and Offboarding manager will contact you with further updates offboarding@remofirst.com
Also, please ensure that Time off, Additional payments and Expenses tab are up to date - all requests are submitted and approved to prepare final payout.
💡 Our team can only process your request when these steps are completed
Step 5: Remofirst has received the request
Remofirst will review the details of it and follow up within 24 hours to begin the Offboarding process.