Before Termination: How BC Employers Should Handle Employee Underperformance

By: Kristina Kovacevic

The real risk is not underperformance, it’s avoidance

Think about the underperformance issue you have quietly tolerated for months. The extended probation. The performance improvement plan still sitting in drafts. The ‘we’ll see how next quarter goes’ conversation that never quite happened.

Most managers are not avoiding the issue because they don’t care. They are avoiding it because performance conversations feel risky, they fear a negative reaction, worry about seeming hypocritical, or simply do not know where to start.

But avoidance has real consequences. When underperformance goes unaddressed, standards blur. Annual reviews become polite rituals rather than accurate reflections of contribution. Over time, what the employee actually delivers quietly diverges from what the role requires- a pattern sometimes called “performance drift.”

In BC, that drift is not just a cultural problem. It undermines your ability to manage risk, meet your duty to maintain a psychologically safe workplace, and, if things ultimately lead to termination, to defend your decisions.

This article is about what to do before termination is ever on the table: the practical steps that protect your employees, and your organization, when performance is slipping.

Why BC’s legal context makes early action even more important

BC employers can terminate employment with or without cause. But the bar for just cause based on performance is very high and courts look closely at what happened before the termination decision was made.

Under the Employment Standards Act (BC), most terminations without just cause require notice or pay in lieu. Poor performance alone, without a history of clear expectations, documented warnings, and a genuine opportunity to improve, will generally not support a just cause finding.

BC employment lawyers and HR advisors consistently identify the same requirements for defensible performance-based termination:

• Clear, communicated performance expectations
• Written documentation of the gaps and conversations
• A reasonable opportunity to improve, with support
• Consistent follow-through at each stage

WorkSafeBC’s psychological health and safety framework goes a step further. It expects employers to proactively manage psychosocial hazards, including patterns of unresolved conflict, lack of role clarity, and inconsistent performance standards. Managers who allow underperformance to fester without addressing it can inadvertently create workplace harm: resentment, perceived unfairness, and a loss of trust across the team. For more information, visit WorkSafeBC’s Psychological Health and Safety resources.

Key principle: Performance management in BC is not a “nice to have” leadership skill. It is part of your legal due diligence, your psychological safety strategy, and the foundation of any defensible termination decision.

Step 1: Clarify what the role actually requires

You cannot manage underperformance if the role is fuzzy. Before any performance conversation, confirm that expectations are clear, in writing, and specific enough to be measurable.

What clear expectations look like:

• Specific outputs: “Submits monthly financial reports by the 5th business day with less than 1% error rate” not “produces accurate reports in a timely manner.”
• Behaviour and values standards: how the employee is expected to communicate, collaborate, and conduct themselves.
• Confirmation that expectations were communicated at hire, through onboarding, and at key checkpoints (end of probation, role changes, new manager).

Employer scenario: A team lead expects client emails to be answered within 24 hours. The employee believes 3 days is reasonable. When response times become an issue, the manager calls it underperformance, but there was never a written standard. This is a communication gap, not a performance failure. BC employment law is clear: an employee must know what is expected of them before their performance can fairly be judged as failing to meet that standard.

If expectations have not been clearly set, the first step is to set them, not to discipline. Document the conversation and send a written summary. This becomes the baseline for everything that follows.

Step 2: Have the early performance conversation

Early conversations are harder to initiate but far easier to recover from. This is often where managers benefit from structured training and coaching to handle performance conversations effectively. Waiting until problems are serious makes the conversation feel like an accusation rather than a correction.

How to structure the conversation:

1. Prepare your purpose. You are there to support improvement, not to build a case. Approach the employee as a partner in solving a problem.
2. Open with inquiry. Start by asking for their perspective before sharing yours: “I’d like to talk about some recent results. I’d like to hear your view first.”
3. Use the SBI framework (Situation, Behaviour, Impact):
   • Situation: “In the last two reporting cycles…”
   • Behaviour: “The reports were submitted three days late and contained errors in sections X and Y.”
   • Impact: “That required last-minute fixes, delayed the board package, and raised questions about accuracy.”
   • Return to problem-solving. “What has been getting in the way?” and “What would help you meet this deadline consistently?” open the door to solutions without blame.

Why documentation matters here:

After the conversation, send a brief written summary: what was discussed, what expectations were clarified, and any agreed actions or timelines. Keep it factual and constructive.

Documenting these conversations is about shared clarity and giving employees a fair record of where things stand.

Step 3: Use progressive, supportive performance management

When an early conversation does not resolve the issue, a structured approach to progressive performance management is both legally expected and practically effective.

The typical stages:

1. Verbal coaching with documented notes
2. Written warning(s) that clearly describe the performance gap and the expected standard
3. A formal Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) with timelines, measurable goals, and outlined support

What makes a defensible PIP in BC?

• A clear description of the performance gaps, tied directly to job expectations
• Specific, measurable goals that define what “success” looks like
• Resources and support: training, coaching, workload adjustments
• A reasonable timeframe to improve, appropriate to the role and seniority
• A clear statement that failure to improve may result in further discipline, up to and including termination

Practical tip: Where possible, co-create the PIP with the employee rather than presenting it as a finished document. Employees who have input into their improvement plan are more likely to engage with it. If the PIP reads like a pre-written termination letter, it often functions as one and the employee disengages or seeks legal counsel rather than focusing on improvement.

During the PIP period, frequent coaching-style check-ins are important. They demonstrate good-faith effort, maintain psychological safety, and align with WorkSafeBC’s expectations around supportive supervision.

Step 4: Check for disability and accommodation issues

Before moving to formal discipline or termination based on performance, consider whether a protected ground under human rights legislation may be a contributing factor.

Performance issues are sometimes connected to mental health conditions, neurodivergence, physical disability, or family status obligations – all of which are protected under BC’s Human Rights Code. If, during performance conversations, you become aware that a health issue or other protected factor may be affecting the employee’s performance, you have a legal duty to inquire further and to consider reasonable accommodation to the point of undue hardship.

Accommodation steps to consider:

• Ask open-ended questions about barriers to performance (without demanding medical disclosure prematurely)
• If a health issue is indicated, follow your medical information request process
• Explore adjustments to duties, hours, workload, or tools
• Document your accommodation inquiry and any steps taken

Failing to explore accommodation before moving to termination can create significant human rights exposure, even when your performance documentation is otherwise strong.

This is a stage where looping in an HR advisor or employment counsel is particularly valuable.

When termination may still be the right decision

Even with good-faith effort at every stage, some employees will not meet the required standards, or the role may have evolved beyond their current capabilities. Termination can be appropriate, but it should be the end of a documented process, not a reaction to a single poor review.

For a performance-based just cause, BC courts look for:

• Clear, reasonable expectations that were communicated
• A documented pattern of substandard performance
• Specific written warnings that identified the gap and the consequence
• A genuine opportunity to improve, with support
• Continued failure to meet standards, with demonstrated business impact

In many situations, the safer path is termination without alleging just cause, with appropriate notice or pay in lieu under the Employment Standards Act and common law. Attempting to frame thin performance documentation as just cause often increases legal risk rather than reducing it.

A tale of two terminations: Employer A maintained clear expectations, documented each performance conversation, issued a written warning, ran a structured PIP with coaching support, and explored accommodation. When the employee still could not meet the standard, the termination was defensible, and the exit was managed with dignity. Employer B tolerated two years of vague performance concerns, wrote “meets expectations” in annual reviews, had no written warnings, and terminated after a difficult project. The wrongful dismissal claim was expensive and avoidable.

Before-Termination checklist for BC employers

Use this checklist to assess your readiness before any termination conversation:

• Job description is current, specific, and clearly defines performance standards
• Expectations were communicated in writing at hire and at key checkpoints
• Early performance conversation occurred and was documented
• Written warning(s) issued, describing the gap and consequence
• PIP completed with measurable goals, support, and timelines
• Accommodation inquiry completed and documented (where relevant)
• HR or legal counsel consulted on just cause versus without cause decision
• Exit plan prepared: final pay, reference, and communication

How Pivot HR Services Can Help

At Pivot HR Services, we work with BC employers who want to handle underperformance the right way: early, fairly, and in a manner that is defensible if termination becomes necessary.

We provide:

• Performance management frameworks and documentation templates aligned with BC employment standards
• Manager training on early performance conversations, using inquiry-based and SBI approaches
• Advisory support on complex cases, including the intersection of performance with disability, accommodation, and workplace investigations
• File reviews before termination decisions, to identify risk and recommend next steps

We offer a complimentary initial consultation for BC employers who want to understand where their current performance management practices may be creating risk, and what practical next steps look like. Contact Pivot HR Services to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions: 

Can I terminate an employee in BC for poor performance without a PIP?

Technically, yes. BC employers can terminate without cause at any time, provided appropriate notice or pay in lieu is given. However, if you want to allege just cause for performance (avoiding notice pay), courts will almost always require evidence of a documented PIP or equivalent progressive steps. Without this, termination for cause based on performance is very difficult to defend. In most cases, a properly documented without-cause termination is both cleaner and lower risk than a poorly documented just-cause claim.

What happens if a performance issue is connected to a disability or mental health condition?

If an employee’s performance struggles are connected to a disability or mental health condition, you have a duty to accommodate under BC’s Human Rights Code before moving to discipline or termination. This does not mean performance standards disappear; it means you must explore whether reasonable adjustments could enable the employee to meet them. Failing to do this creates human rights exposure that exists separately from, and in addition to, wrongful dismissal risk. Always consult HR or legal counsel when health issues intersect with performance.

How much documentation is enough before a termination decision in BC?

There is no fixed formula, but the standard is whether a neutral third party, a judge, arbitrator, or human rights tribunal, would conclude that the employee had clear notice of the problem, a fair opportunity to improve, and genuine support to do so. At minimum, you should have: a written record of the performance concerns, at least one formal written warning, a structured PIP with defined outcomes, and documentation that accommodation was considered where relevant. If your file does not have these elements, proceeding to termination carries real legal risk.