A dirty little secret of HR is that "values" can be a defense against wrongful termination lawsuits. Firing people can be very risky with modern anti-discrimina

A dirty little secret of HR is that "values" can be a defense against wrongful termination lawsuits. Firing people can be very risky with modern anti-discrimination and employment laws. I've heard a number of horror stories: one from a private dental practice and several from a chain restaurant. Both stories come from individuals I trust when they say the problem employees needed to be fired... but they sue anyway. In the case of the medical practice, the settlement could have been avoided by a 4 page "employee handbook" plus a few written notes about handbook violations. In the chain restaurant stories, some notes citing which "values" the employee failed to personify made for easy dismissals of cases about race or age discrimination.