Legal Question in Employment Law in Indiana

Re: Can I terminate employment

Indiana is an "at will" employment state. That means an employer can fire an employee for "good reason, bad reason, or no reason," but not for an unlawful reason. Unlawful reasons are typically those found in federal civil rights law (age, race, sex, religion, disability) though there are a few other reasons. Bottom line, unless there is a written contract or a union contract, you can fire this individual. You can walk up to him and say: "I wanted to fire someone ugly today and you fit the bill. You're fired." Now, under those circumstances, with that kind of reason, he would have a right to claim unemployment compensation because that is a "bad reason" under Indiana law. So you'd end up losing on any unemployment comp claim he might make. But here, it sounds like you have a legitimate reason for firing him.