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Employee Relations

Retiring instead of facing discipline doesn’t constitute constructive discharge

01/01/2008

Employees who retire to avoid facing internal disciplinary charges can’t turn around and claim they were constructively discharged. That’s why employers might want to consider offering retirement in such cases as an option in lieu of discipline …

Waitress: Cipriani restaurant is hostile to women

01/01/2008

A waitress has sued Cipriani restaurants and a dozen male employees, claiming they subjected her to a stream of degrading comments about women. Lastenia Amparo Torres, who works at Harry Cipriani in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in Manhattan, said the harassment began when she joined the restaurant in 2000 and hasn’t let up since …

Require HR review of disciplinary records before discharge

01/01/2008

Nothing will send a discrimination case to trial faster than obvious unequal treatment of employees. That’s why it is important to have someone in HR do a complete review before the company discharges someone for poor performance or rule violations …

Right to have a witness during discipline

01/01/2008

Q. We have a nonunion shop. It is not uncommon for our employees to insist that they have the right to have a witness present during investigatory interviews and disciplinary action meetings. I have heard conflicting answers to whether employees in a nonunion facility have the right to have a witness present during investigatory and disciplinary interviews. Can you clear up the confusion for me? …

Following baseless complaint, ensure later discipline is legit

01/01/2008

Sometimes employees who know they are in trouble at work will try to set up lawsuits. That way, they reason, if they get fired, they can sue for “retaliation.” It’s up to HR to ferret out such sneaky tricks and prevent those lawsuits. The best way is to make absolutely sure that you can justify any eventual discipline …

Evenly enforce zero-Tolerance rule against threats

01/01/2008

You’ll never be able to completely eliminate romantic involvement between co-workers, but you can and should take steps to ensure peaceful coexistence in the workplace once a relationship ends. Just make sure you enforce the rules evenhandedly against both males and females …

Any negative comments about work injury may lead to lawsuit

01/01/2008

It’s frustrating when an employee you don’t think is seriously injured files a workers’ compensation claim, especially months after the alleged injury. However, you must resist the temptation to react negatively—for example, by bad-mouthing the employee …

Following harassment complaint, changing supervisors can cut liability

01/01/2008

While no employer should condone any form of workplace harassment, it isn’t always necessary to terminate the alleged harasser. After all, sometimes it may be a matter of “he said/she said,” making it tough to sort out what really happened. That’s likely if there are no witnesses. In those cases, the best move may be to separate the parties …

FBI says Atlanta police failed to pursue child pornographer

01/01/2008

The FBI has charged Terrill Crane, the husband of Atlanta police sergeant Tanya Crane, with paying more than a dozen underage girls to have sex with him. Worse, the FBI says it has evidence that the Atlanta Police Department first learned about the alleged crimes seven years ago …

Internal thefts and background checks: What if employees withhold consent?

01/01/2008

Q. We are getting ready to conduct an internal investigation into a series of thefts that have occurred within one of our offices. We would like to obtain background checks from some of the suspected employees, but are concerned that they may refuse to execute the necessary consent forms. Can we require them to do so? — A.K. …