A layoff is dozens of termination decisions made at once, which means dozens of chances to create a pattern. This checker scores the defensibility of your selection process and runs the adverse impact screen most small employers skip.
This tool provides general defensibility screening and a simplified adverse impact calculation for planning purposes. It is not legal advice; the four-fifths rule is a screening signal with known small-sample limitations, not a legal determination. Reductions in force involving age-40+ waivers, WARN-scale numbers, or public-sector rules need counsel review before execution.
RIF claims rarely attack the business decision to reduce; they attack how individuals were selected. Written objective criteria, records that match the choices, documented exceptions, and an independent review of the final list are what make selections defensible. The score weights exactly those elements.
Selection rate equals employees selected divided by group size. The impact ratio compares the group of concern's rate to the comparison group's rate. The federal Uniform Guidelines use the four-fifths rule as a general signal: a selection rate under 80% of the highest group's rate warrants a closer look. It is a screen, not a verdict, and it is unreliable with very small numbers, which the tool flags.
A RIF that happens to sweep out the employee who just filed a complaint, requested leave, or reported an injury will be read through that lens. Individually checking every name for recent protected activity is the single highest-value hour in RIF preparation.
Only if the records already say they are poor performers. Using a reduction to exit people whose files say “meets expectations” creates the exact contradiction plaintiffs' attorneys look for. Performance-based selection requires performance-based documentation that predates the RIF.
A properly drafted release helps significantly, but releases from employees 40 and over require specific statutory language and waiting periods to be valid, and group terminations add disclosure requirements. An invalid release is worse than none: you paid for protection you did not get.
Less than it would at scale, and the tool flags this. With small groups, one person changes the ratio dramatically. The screen still has value as a prompt: if the ratio looks bad even with small numbers, look at the names and reasons individually.
The federal WARN Act generally applies to employers with 100+ employees making mass layoffs or plant closings at defined thresholds, requiring 60 days' notice. If your reduction is anywhere near those numbers, the notice analysis comes before everything else in this tool.
Book a no-cost 30-minute consult. Bring your result, and leave with a straight read on the risk and a practical next step.