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Terminations

Legal clock starts when you tell worker she’s losing job

07/07/2008
If you plan to terminate employees who work for you under contract, plan to document exactly when you tell them their contracts won’t be renewed. Here’s why: Employees have only a short time to file discrimination claims. If they miss the deadline, they lose the right to sue …

Be careful with doctor certifications: Union contract may trump FMLA rules

07/07/2008
Employers can insist that employees submit medical certification of their need for FMLA leave within 15 days. But what happens if a union member is denied FMLA leave because the employer didn’t get the certification within the 15-day limit? …

Make sure employees understand your FMLA calendar

07/07/2008
FMLA regulations provide employers with four options for calculating how much leave employees are entitled to at any given time. But if you don’t select a method and let employees know, the DOL says you must use the one most beneficial to the employee. That may mean doing four calculations every time an employee wants FMLA leave …

Worried about leave abuse? You can require regular call-Off

07/07/2008
Employees who have chronic medical conditions that require intermittent FMLA leave sometimes take advantage of alleged flare-ups to go on vacation or otherwise miss work for personal reasons. Discourage that kind of abuse by requiring them to call in daily. If the employee ignores the requirement, you can terminate her for failing to follow company policy …

Teacher fired for burning cross on student’s arm

07/07/2008
The Mount Vernon City Schools’ Board of Education has moved to terminate a middle school teacher accused of burning a cross into a student’s arm. Over the years, school board officials have reprimanded Freshwater several times for refusing to remove his Bible from his classroom desk and teaching creationism alongside evolution …

Warn supervisors: Over-the-Top, irrational behavior may mean personal liability

07/07/2008
Do you have a problem supervisor or manager who acts like a Marine Corps drill sergeant? While it may not be technically illegal to berate and yell at subordinates, abusive bosses sometimes cross a dangerous legal line—the one that marks the boundary of behavior that constitutes intentional infliction of emotional distress …

Watch what you say about termination

07/03/2008
It’s crucial to prepare accurate notes about any meeting in which managers are discussing whether to terminate someone. Otherwise, a jury might hear a simple question like, “Can we get in legal hot water for firing someone on disability leave?” as “Let’s find a way to get rid of her!” …

Audit demographics to spot problems before anyone sues

07/02/2008
Sometimes it’s hard to spot employment discrimination problems even when they’re right under your nose. Consider, for example, age discrimination. Audit your hiring and firing records for the past few years. If the people your organization has let go are older on average than those you have hired or retained, chances are there is an age discrimination claim lurking in your HR records …

Need an incentive to settle? How about lower attorneys’ fees?

07/02/2008
Don’t let emotion get in the way of settling a case early on if it looks like the company may be liable. Dragging out the inevitable accomplishes just two things—neither of them good: (1) It adds to the fees you have to pay your own attorneys and (2) the fees you also may end up paying for the other side’s attorneys …

Nassau County SPCA faces sexual harassment suits

07/02/2008
Susan Collison of Massapequa, a former volunteer investigative sergeant with the Nassau County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), is suing the society, the county and its leadership for sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation …