My sweet employee who is 83 has been dedicated to my business for over 10 years. She has only the best intentions but her actions are disappointing my clients and I’m losing business/ reputation due to her lack of clear communication and numerous clients have contacted me now and complained. I don’t know how to handle it. Help!
Is there another job you can give her?
I'm sure she must need the money if she's still working at that age.
Both my boss and myself were seniors [85 and 74], and loved what we were doing. He found there was a skill set that he found at his age it was becoming difficult for him to do, and since I would jump at a chance to do that work, he turned it over to me. And there were things I wasn't crazy about doing, that he liked and took over.
Working into my 70's was so refreshing, I couldn't wait to get to the office to unlock the door. Sadly my boss passed from covid, and I had to close up the business. Oh how I miss not going into the office, every day was rewarding. I would have done the work for free !!
Please see if there is something you can trade off to this worker that doesn't require her to have a lot of contact with clients, and take over some of her job in exchange. You may both find this to be a win-win situation. Maybe cut her hours a bit, because at 83 one just doesn't have the same energy as 10 years prior. She may welcome that.
"Most employment is "at will," which means an employee may be fired at any time and for any reason or for no reason at all (as long as the reason is not illegal)."
I think when someone can no longer perform their job this is not illegal or age discrimination to let them go. I really can't see an 84 yr old sue and win with this explanation.