Today is your final day to VOTE for the Worst Employer of 2025
Not "this ends in a lawsuit" badly—but catastrophically badly. The kind that devolves into workplace violence, an active shooter situation, or some other despicable act that no one saw coming but everyone later says should have been anticipated.
That fear drives my mantra with clients: you can never be too careful. If there's even a whiff that something could go sideways—emotional volatility, erratic behavior, mental health concerns, escalating conduct—you take reasonable steps to make sure it doesn't. You plan. You slow down. You involve the right people. You treat the termination not as an HR task, but as a safety event.
Which brings me to former Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore.
Based on public reporting, Michigan terminated Moore "for cause" after an investigation concluded he had an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Within hours, Moore was taken into custody in connection with an alleged assault. Subsequent reporting suggests university leadership was aware of mental health concerns before the termination, yet the firing allegedly occurred in a one-on-one meeting, without HR present and without security.
From a risk-management perspective, this is about as close to a worst-case scenario as it gets. Here are five lessons every employer should take to heart:
First, terminations are safety events. Especially when misconduct, emotional instability, or mental health issues are in play. That means HR involvement, neutral witnesses, security or the police on standby, and a controlled setting. Hoping for the best is not a plan.
Second, control the timing and the exit. Once the decision is made, remove the employee from the workplace as quickly and quietly as possible. Terminations should occur when fewer people are around (ideally at the end of the workday or workweek) to reduce volatility, embarrassment, and the risk of escalation. A calm, efficient exit is a safety measure, not an insult.
Third, don't investigate in silos. Prior complaints, behavioral changes, and multiple investigations must be viewed holistically. Patterns matter. Escalation matters.
Fourth, mental health knowledge changes the calculus. It doesn't bar termination as long as it's not the reason for the termination, but it absolutely heightens the duty of care around how it's handled.
And finally: HR is never optional. If an employee can be fired without HR involved, the process is broken.
Terminations that end in tragedy are the overwhelming exception. But every termination carries risk. The goal isn't to predict the unthinkable—it's to prepare for it. Because when things go wrong, the question is always the same: what did you know, and what did you do with it?