pink slip 
North American informal
noun
A notice of dismissal from employment.Bank One has recently announced that 5,100 employees will get pink slips....
- Here is a man so richly deserving of a pink slip that his dismissal on such minor grounds leaves a sour taste.
- In the Department of Transportation, pink slips will go out to 83 workers, mostly at city parking lots and at the Staten Island ferry, which would see its already crowded rush-hour service reduced by 25 percent.
verb
(pink-slip) [with object] Dismiss (someone) from employment: along with thousands of other steelworkers, I got pink-slipped...
- The wage cuts, dated back to April 1, mean pink-slipped staff will get a bill for overpaid wages as well.
- Owner Jerry Jones wasted little time in pink-slipping Dave Smith and hiring Bill Brown, the quintessential fixer-upper.
- The darkest moment came in the spring of 2001, when 400 of his colleagues were pink-slipped.
Origin
Early 20th century: from the pink paper on which some notices of dismissal were formerly written.