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Discipline / Investigations

What should I do? My boss wants to make a change that goes against existing policy

03/26/2009

Q. I’m the HR director, and our discipline policy is very complicated and has several categories of offenses. It says that if employees commit offenses that may result in suspensions of more than three days, employees are allowed a pre-disciplinary counseling conference. My boss thinks we should skip that conference if the employee has already been counseled for a prior offense within the past 12 months. I’m concerned that this deviates from our policy. Can we do this?

DITO DITA … Do It To One. Do It To All

03/24/2009

Do you sometimes let employees bend company policy … just a little? It’s really no big deal, right? A new court ruling warns that if you start bending a policy for one, you’d better be ready to bend it for all. Being flexible can sometimes be fatal.

Crack down on association discrimination—especially if there are threats of violence

03/18/2009

Employers, beware: More employees are suing over so-called association discrimination, claiming their friendships or other relationships with black employees have resulted in discrimination against them, in addition to their acquaintances. Recently, the 6th Circuit came up with guidelines for when employees can sue based on their relationships with black employees.

Counter discrimination charges by seeking information from all witnesses

03/18/2009

Employees who’ve been fired have little to lose—and they’re quite likely to see a lawyer about possible litigation. Right off the bat, you can expect that attorney to check whether the employer conducted a real investigation before making the termination decision.

What’s scope of sexual harassment investigation?

03/18/2009

Q. We are looking into an allegation of sexual harassment. According to the alleged victim, after she came forward, other employees began telling her they had similar problems with the alleged harasser. None of those incidents was ever reported. Must we expand our investigation to include the unreported incidents? Where do we draw the line?

Set up employee complaint hotline to flag managerial abuses—and stop lawsuits

03/13/2009

All too often, low-level managers and supervisors cause misunderstandings that could have been avoided. Of course, training on company processes, anti-discrimination or anti-harassment policies and so forth can prevent many workplace problems. As a backup plan, make sure you have a way for employees to quickly notify HR about any problems.

Make pre-firing investigation truly independent

03/09/2009

You might have rogue managers in your midst without even knowing it. If one of your supervisors has it in for a subordinate for discriminatory reasons, and you rely on his recommendation to terminate an employee, you may be in trouble.

Act quickly once you verify harassment

03/03/2009

When an employee has sexually harassed a co-worker, employers can avoid liability by acting fast to fix the situation as soon as they learn about it. General rules: If an employee complains, investigate promptly. If the alleged harasser confesses, immediately take steps to end any further harassment.

Don’t be fooled: ‘Quit or be fired’ won’t stop employee from filing lawsuit

03/03/2009

Some companies mistakenly believe that offering an employee the option of quitting or being fired can save them from a later lawsuit. That isn’t always the case even if the employee decides to resign. In fact, an employee who quits to avoid being fired may have been “constructively discharged” and can still sue …

Warn managers: False claim that employee lied can lead to defamation lawsuit

03/03/2009

Here’s a warning for managers or supervisors being investigated for sexual or other harassment: If they falsely accuse an alleged victim of lying, the victim may be able to sue the manager or supervisor for defamation. And that could mean personal liability for the boss if a jury believes the alleged victim.