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Firing

Make agreements truly a last chance: It’s OK to forbid appeals or challenges

02/05/2009

If you want to give an employee one last chance to fly right, you can use a so-called “last chance agreement.” Such contracts can be used, for example, to set the terms for being drug or alcohol free and submitting to random testing. Last-chance agreements can even include tough terms

Fired health CEO sues

02/05/2009

Carmen Morano, former president and CEO of Bloomfield-based health insurance company PerfectHealth, has sued the insurer, alleging it illegally fired him in May 2008.

Tell managers to document hypersensitive worker’s behavior

02/02/2009

Some employees are more sensitive to criticism than others and may also be more likely to file hostile work environment lawsuits. Managers with difficult subordinates would do well to track the behavior. It can be used in court to show that those subordinates have a skewed perception of the workplace.

Rehabilitation Act applies to county court systems

02/02/2009

The 3rd Circuit has ruled that county court systems can be sued for disability discrimination under the federal Rehabilitation Act because the domestic relations divisions of the county court systems received federal funding.

Next up on the nightly news, perhaps a little less drama

02/02/2009

The ongoing soap opera that is Philadelphia news broadcasting seems to be winding down. Former WCAU-TV news anchor Vince DeMentri has settled for an undisclosed sum for a sex discrimination complaint…

What should we have said—and say in the future—about an employee fired for theft?

02/02/2009

Q. We fired a part-time employee for stealing a gift card out of the trash. We have a policy against taking anything of value out of the garbage. The next day, his supervisor announced to everyone that the employee had been fired for theft. I don’t think it was appropriate to tell others the reason. Was it? And what should we say if someone calls for a reference?

How not to fire complaining employee: Use pretext, don’t document real reasons

02/02/2009

Before firing any employee who has filed a harassment complaint, make sure your reasons are solid—and extremely well documented. That means checking to make sure supervisors followed company rules. Ensure that other employees with similar records were also fired. And be sure all documentation you are relying on was clearly created before the discrimination complaint.

Former Victoria’s Secret employee claims pregnancy bias

02/02/2009

A Beaumont-area Victoria’s Secret employee recently filed suit in Jefferson County District Court alleging she was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Krystal Burns brought her suit under Title VII, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Texas Labor Code.

Beware firing based on police polygraph tests

01/27/2009

Employee theft is a big problem, and it could get bigger during hard economic times. Sometimes employers learn about “inside jobs” from police. When that’s the case, watch out for an interesting trap that can lead to litigation.

Boss makes employee sick? That’s no disability

01/27/2009

If every employee who got depressed or anxious after receiving a poor performance review or trying to satisfy a demanding boss could sue, the courts would have little time for anything else. That may be one reason that courts have been rejecting ADA cases based on stress and anxiety brought on by work conditions.