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Terminations

State law dictates employees’ access to personnel file

05/01/2005

Q. An ex-employee whom we fired is now asking to take some documents from his personnel file. Is he legally allowed to do this? Do we have to give him the information just because he’s asking for it? —L.B., North Carolina

Don’t automatically fire after FMLA, STD leave expire

04/01/2005

Q. Our policy is to run FMLA and short-term disability (STD) concurrently. FMLA is for 12 weeks of job-protected leave. STD is for 26 weeks, with proper medical documentation. At what point can we terminate an employee, at the end of 12 weeks, when FMLA leave is exhausted? And, if so, do we end short-term disability payments, since the employee has been terminated? —E.A., Georgia

Will your anti-retaliation policy pay off?

04/01/2005
When it comes to handling employee complaints of unfair treatment, you’d better have a policy and a procedure in place to handle retaliation claims.
That’s the $520,000 message a federal …

Accommodate employee health issues, but don’t ‘play doctor’

04/01/2005
When employees suffer health problems that affect their work and could trigger ADA protection, you should start the interactive process and explore possible accommodations. But make sure your supervisors know not …

Avoid lawsuits by sticking to performance when you fire

04/01/2005
When terminating someone, it’s critical to choose your words very cautiously. Briefly summarize your reasons for the firing, and allow the person to offer his or her side of the story, …

Employees can’t cry ‘retaliation’ if they’re not eligible for leave

04/01/2005
Issue: Employees can sue for FMLA retaliation only if they’ve put in the minimum hours to become eligible for FMLA leave.
Benefit: Less risk of first-year employees winning FMLA-retaliation suits. …

Design your career ‘disaster plan’ now, before you need it

04/01/2005
Issue: You know how to help employees who are fired or laid off. But HR people often forget those principals when facing that
problem themselves.
Benefit: With proper planning …

Use ‘stay’ interviews to boost retention

04/01/2005
In addition to using exit interviews that ask employees why they’re leaving, conduct regular “stay interviews” to learn what your organization is doing right (and wrong) and to show that you …

“Confederate Southern-American” isn’t a protected class.

03/01/2005
It’s illegal to discriminate in hiring, firing, promotions or pay because of a person’s national origin. Courts have said national origin must refer to a country where the person was born …

When handing out discipline, make punishment fit the crime

03/01/2005
Managers may want to “get tough” on employees who have given them trouble in the past. But, as the following case shows, employees can sue for retaliation if they can prove …