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Terminations

Placing Employee on ‘Involuntary’ FMLA Leave Is Perfectly Legal

07/01/2006

When an employee calls in sick with an apparently serious ailment, you can place that employee on FMLA leave, even if he or she never asks. f you reasonably believe she has a serious health condition, you can start the 12-week FMLA-leave clock ticking …

Equal treatment is absolutely essential after employee’s complaint

07/01/2006

It may seem patently obvious, but judging from the number of lawsuits alleging retaliation these days, many employers still don’t understand the importance of equal treatment following a complaint …

THREE CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES … TWO DIFFERENT PENALTIES

07/01/2006

Q. Two employees went to breakfast and drank three bottles of champagne to celebrate one’s birthday. One employee is an exempt employee who has been with us for seven years. The other is an hourly employee with the company for one month. I’d like to treat them differently: terminate the hourly employee and suspend the exempt employee for a week. Is that possible? —D.M., California

Analyze Severance Agreements for Plain-Language Readability

07/01/2006

When it comes time to downsize or reorganize, one of the most common risks you’ll face is age-discrimination claims. That’s why it’s best to have departing employees sign severance agreements in which they waive their rights to pursue age-related claims …

Cut turnover by identifying disenchanted workers

07/01/2006
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Breaching employment contract can nullify noncompete clause

07/01/2006

The best way to protect against employee poaching—and against employees using your organization as a training ground to start their own competing firm—is with a solid employment contract and noncompete agreement. But it will mean nothing if you break the agreement first …

Fire employee for positive cocaine test

06/01/2006

Q. We are a small but growing construction company, and we don’t have formal policies in place. Recently, one of our employees was involved in an accident at a construction site. This is his third accident. After the second time, we had him sign a warning notice that said he’d be terminated if it happened again. We sent him for drug testing after this third accident and he came back positive for cocaine. We want to terminate him. But we suspended another worker who tested positive for marijuana. Can we fire him? —B.O., Pennsylvania

‘Last straw’ needn’t be egregious to justify firing

06/01/2006

Employers often bend over backward to give employees second chances. But when second chances turn into third and fourth chances, you’ll  probably lose your patience and send the employee packing. Some employers, however, wrongly believe that they must cite a particularly serious behavior or performance problem as the last straw before termination. As a new ruling shows, that’s simply not true …

Don’t editorialize about merits of employee complaints

06/01/2006

Process every employee complaint without commenting on its merits or on the potential consequences of making the complaint. Remind managers to do the same. Never make snide comments …

Trauma of being fired won’t extend FMLA rights

06/01/2006

A new court ruling means you’ll face less worry about legal liabilities stemming from the psychological impact of firing employees on FMLA leave …