Companies facing reductions-in-force know that they need to make intelligent and legal decisions about which employees to keep and which to let go. To often, however, companies are both unsure and unaware of the different types of criteria that they may use to do so. This article examines and categorizes a variety of RIF criteria from reported court decisions and concludes with a multi-step process by which appropriate RIF criteria may be developed in individual situations.

Employee Relations Law Journal Vol. 27, No. 7