• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Employment Law

Discipline only after documenting work slippage

10/24/2008

Sometimes, it takes a new manager or supervisor to see how poorly an employee is performing. If an employee who has been getting good reviews suddenly appears to slump under new leadership, don’t jump the gun and discipline the employee right away. Here’s a better approach …

Remind bosses: No reprisals for complaining

10/24/2008

It’s easy to understand why supervisors and managers get upset when one of their subordinates files an EEOC complaint. After all, how can you not take it personally if someone says you discriminated based on race or sex or for some other illegal reason? But the worst thing those managers and supervisors can do is punish the subordinate.

Former sheriff won’t be handing out paychecks anytime soon

10/24/2008

Ronald Hewitt, former Brunswick County sheriff, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison, ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and attend mandatory substance-abuse counseling after pleading guilty to obstructing justice in a case that was a hit parade of workplace impropriety.

New employee obviously not working out? Let hiring manager be the one who terminates

10/24/2008

Sometimes, it becomes clear early on that it was a mistake to hire that new employee. If it doesn’t look as though things will improve, it’s a good idea to let the same manager who recommended hiring the employee also be the one to fire her. That makes the termination decision much easier to defend if there’s any question about possible discrimination.

N.C. workers can cite ‘public policy’ violations in wrongful discharge cases

10/24/2008

Although North Carolina is an at-will employment state—that is, employees can be fired for any reason or no reason at all as long as it is not a reason prohibited by law—that doesn’t mean that there aren’t exceptions. One of those is the so-called “public policy” exception, which allows employees to sue for wrongful discharge if their firings violate North Carolina public policy.

Track discipline by protected characteristics

10/24/2008

Poor performers who think they have been discriminated against when fired, demoted or otherwise disciplined can still win a lawsuit—if they can show that others outside their protected class were just as lousy but didn’t receive the same discipline. Be ready to defend yourself with solid, carefully documented proof…

Beware a work environment that treats women as sex objects

10/24/2008

Not all flirting is sexual harassment, and occasional provocative talk doesn’t necessarily create a sexually hostile work environment. But watch out if things get so out of hand that a reasonable female employee would believe co-workers or supervisors see women as sex objects.

Ethics battle rages as Election Day approaches

10/24/2008

State Auditor Les Merritt has released a preliminary report concluding that the State Ethics Commission is “hiding facts from the public” regarding its termination of commission office assistant Amanda Thaxton and a related investigation into whether it gave Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue preferential treatment …

94% of plant’s workers illegal? ICE detains hundreds in sting

10/24/2008

In the largest raid ever conducted in the Carolinas, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained more than 300 workers at Columbia Farms, a House of Raeford Poultry plant in Columbia, S.C. Roughly 100 agents swept through the plant just before 9 a.m. on Oct. 7, sending workers scattering …

Civil rights groups call for sheriff’s resignation over remarks

10/24/2008

Two dozen civil rights groups signed a letter calling for the resignation of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, following an article in the Raleigh News & Observer in which Bizzell lamented the influx of “drunk Mexicans” who “rape, rob and murder” American citizens and are “breeding like rabbits” in his county.