The ping came in at 6:42 a.m. on a Thursday. The kind of message that makes your stomach drop before the first coffee hits your bloodstream. One of our senior engineers had just quit abruptly. Worse, they had fired off angry, borderline threatening messages through Microsoft Teams and email. And now, our COO was in my office, visibly concerned. “What happens if this turns into a lawsuit?” she asked.
Welcome to the less glamorous side of tech leadership: navigating a hostile termination.
When the Dust Hasn’t Settled Yet: First 30 Minutes
That first half-hour after a hostile termination is all about control. Not in the authoritarian sense, but in the practical, protect-the-company sense.
Here’s what I did immediately:
- Disabled the employee’s accounts: Email, VPN, GitHub access, Slack/Teams… everything.
- Preserved all digital communications: Took full backups of Teams chats, emails, and shared files. In California, this is key. You can’t delete or alter employee communication records during or after a hostile termination if there’s any hint of legal risk.
- Placed a legal hold on the account: We used our eDiscovery tools to apply a legal hold, preventing data deletion or tampering. This protects the company during any investigation or litigation.
- Verified backup retention: We use Axcient as our backup solution. It’s critical to ensure backups of mailboxes, OneDrive, and shared data are retained and immutable for a defined period after a hostile termination.
- Looped in HR and Legal: We’re a Los Angeles-based firm, so we’re extra cautious about compliance. California labor laws are strict, especially when it comes to final paychecks, accrued PTO, and how we handle internal documentation during a hostile termination.
Red Flags in Digital Communication
When an employee resigns in a blaze of emails and angry DMs, IT becomes the first line of defense. What we see in those logs often determines the company’s legal exposure in a hostile termination.
What to do:
- Flag any communications that could be considered hostile, defamatory, or legally risky.
- Document the context. Who responded to what? Was there an escalation path? Did anyone acknowledge the messages?
- Share a neutral summary with HR. Let the legal team assess, but give them clean, chronological data to work with.
Lock Down Company Devices
Even though the employee quit, there was a real concern that they might still have their laptop — and it wasn’t in the building.
- We locked down the device using Microsoft Intune: The laptop was enrolled in our endpoint management platform, so we were able to remotely disable access, encrypt the drive, and push a wipe command.
- Tracked device last check-in: Using Intune logs, we confirmed when the machine last communicated with our systems.
- Dealt with BYOD scenarios: The employee’s personal phone had been enrolled for MAM (mobile application management). We revoked access and issued a selective wipe that removed all company data but left personal content untouched.
This is where having a proper BYOD policy pays off. Our employees sign an agreement at onboarding that defines what happens to their devices during separation, especially in a hostile termination.
Coordinate With Leadership, Not Just HR
One of IT leaders’ biggest mistakes in these situations is assuming it’s “an HR problem.” In reality, it’s an organizational issue. We had to make decisions fast:
- Inform department heads: Especially those who had worked closely with the employee.
- Audit access logs: We checked for unusual activity over the prior 48 hours, including file downloads, forwarded emails, and external sharing.
- Pause planned deployments: The employee had been involved in a key product release. We needed to reassess code security and ownership.
Lessons in Documentation and Policy
We were lucky. We had an offboarding checklist. We had a cloud DLP policy. But even so, there were gaps. For instance, we hadn’t updated our communication monitoring policy in over a year. That mattered once legal got involved.
If you’re a CIO or IT leader, ask yourself:
- Do we have clear policies on monitoring internal communication?
- Are employees aware of them (via onboarding or annual refreshers)?
- Do we have a digital retention policy that meets California’s requirements?
- Can we place legal holds on data easily?
- Are our endpoint management and backup systems configured for rapid response to a hostile termination?
Be Human, Even When It’s Messy
Behind every hostile termination is a person who felt ignored, mistreated, or overwhelmed. That doesn’t excuse bad behavior, but it does mean we should approach the aftermath with empathy.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
- Don’t speculate in emails or Slack about the termination.
- Avoid the gossip cycle. Even one loose comment from leadership can surface in discovery if things go legal.
- Support the team. People get rattled when someone exits explosively. Acknowledge it, be transparent, and remind them that systems are in place to protect everyone.
Wrap-Up: You Can’t Predict, But You Can Prepare
Hostile terminations are emotional, unpredictable, and risky. But they’re also navigable if you treat them with the seriousness and structure they demand. The tech stack, the HR policy, and the legal framework all matter — but so does calm leadership.
That Thursday morning ended with our legal team giving the thumbs up on our process. Not because it was perfect, but because it was documented and defensible. And that’s often the best outcome you can ask for.
High-Level Hostile Termination Checklist
- Disable all accounts and access credentials immediately
- Place legal hold on mailbox and files
- Backup and preserve Teams, email, OneDrive, and shared content
- Lock and wipe company devices via Intune
- Revoke company data access on personal/BYOD devices
- Notify HR, Legal, and direct leadership
- Audit recent access logs for suspicious behavior
- Pause code pushes, deployments, or projects involving the employee
- Archive all internal communications involving the termination
- Document every step — defensible, timestamped, and reviewed