Terminating an employee in Brazil is not a matter of filling out a form and clicking a button. It is a process with legal obligations, strict deadlines, specific documents, and multiple departments involved. HR, legal, IT, finance, and management must act in a coordinated manner — and any failure creates labor liabilities, fines, or data exposure.
The problem is that most companies lack a standardized process for terminations. Each manager handles it differently. HR scrambles for documents on the last day. IT revokes access late. Finance calculates severance under pressure.
This article presents a complete CLT employee termination process template, organized in 5 stages, with fields, owners, required documents, and automations. At the end, you can use this template directly in CaseFy.
Why standardize termination
A poorly handled termination creates three types of problems:
Legal risk. Missing the severance payment deadline generates fines under article 477 of the CLT. Incomplete documentation becomes ammunition in labor lawsuits.
Security risk. A former employee with access to corporate email, VPN, or internal systems is a real vulnerability. It is not paranoia — it is operational negligence.
Reputational risk. A disorganized termination affects those who stay. The team notices when the company does not handle a colleague's departure with respect and professionalism.
Standardization solves all three. When the process has defined stages, clear owners, and controlled deadlines, every termination follows the same script. Nothing falls through the cracks.
The template: 5 stages of CLT termination
Stage 1 — Communication and formalization
The termination begins with the decision and formal communication to the employee.
Stage fields: - Employee name, position, and department - Hire date and termination date - Termination type (without cause / resignation / mutual agreement — art. 484-A CLT) - Reason (free text, internal use) - Notice period (worked / paid out / waived) - Notice period dates - Manager responsible for communication
Documents: Termination letter, notice period acknowledgment, formal notification.
Owner: Direct manager + HR
SLA: Documentation formalized within 1 business day after the decision.
Stage 2 — Knowledge transfer and access revocation
Two processes run in parallel: knowledge transfer to other team members, and revocation of all employee access.
Stage fields: - Knowledge transfer owner and deadline - List of systems with active access - Revocation status (email / VPN / internal systems / badge / physical access) - Equipment to return (laptop, phone, token, others) - Equipment return date - Revocation checklist completed (yes/no)
Documents: Equipment return form, knowledge transfer report, access revocation confirmation.
Owner: IT (access and equipment) + Manager (transfer)
SLA: Critical access revocation (email, VPN, systems) within 4 hours of communication. Equipment return by the last working day.
Automation: When the case enters this stage, CaseFy automatically notifies the IT team to begin access revocation. No email dependency, no relying on someone to remember.
Stage 3 — Calculations and severance documentation
The most technical stage. Finance and HR work together to calculate all amounts due, generate severance documents, and prepare required forms.
Stage fields: - Salary balance (days worked in the month) - Accrued vacation + 1/3 constitutional bonus - Proportional vacation + 1/3 constitutional bonus - Proportional 13th salary - 40% FGTS fine (if without cause) - Article 477 fine (if applicable) - Total severance amount - Scheduled payment date
Documents: TRCT (Employment Contract Termination Form), FGTS severance collection form (GRRF), unemployment insurance application (CD/SD), FGTS statement, severance payment receipt, dismissal occupational health certificate (ASO).
Owner: HR + Finance
SLA: Calculation completed within 3 business days. Severance payment within 10 calendar days after termination (legal deadline — art. 477, paragraph 6 CLT).
Automation: CaseFy automatically generates a TRCT draft based on fields filled in previous stages, reducing rework and manual error risk.
Stage 4 — Ratification
Ratification is the formal validation of the termination. Rules changed with the 2017 labor reform, but certain situations still require attention.
Stage fields: - Tenure (calculated automatically) - Union ratification required (yes/no — mandatory if stipulated in collective agreement) - Category union - Scheduled date, time, and location - Company representative - Ratification status (scheduled / completed / waived)
Documents: Signed TRCT, severance payment receipt, FGTS and unemployment insurance forms, updated employment record, dismissal medical exam (ASO), ratification minutes.
Owner: HR
SLA: Ratification completed within 10 calendar days after termination.
Stage 5 — Closure
The final stage handles post-termination obligations and administrative closure.
Stage fields: - eSocial event S-2299 submitted (yes/no) - S-2299 submission date - Employee file backup completed (yes/no) - Team notified about departure (yes/no) - Exit interview conducted (yes/no) - Exit interview notes (text field) - Process closed (yes/no)
Documents: S-2299 submission confirmation, exit interview report, signed closure checklist.
Owner: HR
SLA: S-2299 event submitted to eSocial within 10 days after termination. Exit interview conducted before the last working day.
Automations that make a difference
The template is not just a sequence of forms. Automations eliminate the points where the process most commonly fails:
Automatic IT notification. When the case enters stage 2, the IT team receives a notification with the list of access to revoke and the 4-hour deadline.
Automatic TRCT generation. With employee data and calculated values from stage 3, CaseFy automatically generates the TRCT draft. HR reviews and adjusts but does not need to start from scratch.
Deadline alerts. Each stage has configured SLAs. If the severance payment is not recorded within the legal deadline, the system alerts the owner and the manager.
Automatic stage progression. When all mandatory tasks in a stage are completed, the case automatically advances to the next stage.
The result in practice
With the template configured, every termination follows the same script:
- 1The manager opens a new case from the template
- 2Fills in the initial data (employee, type, dates)
- 3The process advances through 5 stages with defined owners, deadlines, and documents
- 4Automations handle notifications, document generation, and alerts
- 5The timeline records every action — who did what, when
No access stays active due to oversight. No legal deadline is missed due to lack of control. No document remains pending without someone knowing.
Template available in CaseFy
The CLT employee termination process template is available in CaseFy. You install it, adapt the fields to your reality, and start using it the same day.
Five stages, configurable fields, required documents, automations, and a complete timeline. Everything HR needs to conduct terminations with legal certainty and operational control.