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Firing

Tell managers: Don’t retaliate against those who complain

07/21/2008
One of the easiest ways to land the company in legal hot water is for a manager to punish someone who complains that she’s being discriminated against. It may turn out—and it often does—that no discrimination took place. Yet even in those cases, some supervisors can’t resist punishing the messenger, thereby turning a minor matter into a major retaliation case …

Hold onto those notes! Even accidental destruction can mean trouble

07/21/2008
You know it’s crucial to document all disciplinary actions. No doubt, you’ve told managers and supervisors to keep all notes, memos and other paperwork. Those records could be invaluable later if you ever need to show that all your disciplinary decisions were based on good business judgment, performance and other legitimate and relevant reasons …

Air conditioning: mandatory accommodation?

07/21/2008
Charles Gribben, a UPS driver in Phoenix, was told by his doctor to operate only trucks with air conditioning. But UPS, finding it couldn’t accommodate Gribben’s disability, terminated him. Gribben sued UPS under the ADA …

Employee in the hot seat loses claim he was falsely imprisoned

07/21/2008
Zachary Shannon began working for OfficeMax in January 2006. When the company hired him, Shannon signed a standard agreement that he would not photocopy pornographic materials. On Jan. 14, an employee found pornographic photocopies on one of the store’s copiers …

Employer liability for defamation claims based on a reference

07/21/2008
Q. Our company constantly receives calls from prospective employers requesting references for our former employees. Recently, one of our receptionists told an inquiring employer that a former employee was terminated for falsifying his expense reports. The former employee now has threatened to file a lawsuit against us for defamation. Do we have any exposure? …

Patience, paperwork: The right way to fire serial complainers

07/18/2008
Sometimes, employees who are having performance problems think that filing discrimination complaints will help protect their jobs. Word has gotten around that employees can win retaliation cases even if the discrimination claims they make are flimsy. But employers won’t lose a retaliation case if they can show that the employee really did deserve the discipline that followed the discrimination complaint …

Using FMLA leave to build a porch: Can that be legal?

07/17/2008

Have you ever approved FMLA leave for an employee’s medical ailment but had a sneaking suspicion the time would be spent on more than bed rest? If you discover “creative” uses of FMLA leave, be careful not to pull out the “You’re Fired!” finger too quickly or you may find yourself in the center of an FMLA retaliation lawsuit …

Be ready to justify different punishment for like offenses

07/14/2008
The cardinal HR rule is that employees who break the same rule should receive similar punishments. That doesn’t mean, however, that you have no flexibility if the circumstances warrant it. You just have to make sure you can justify why you disciplined one employee differently than another …

Don’t sweat innocent mistakes when deciding on disciplining

07/14/2008
Good news: You don’t have to be perfect when disciplining employees. As long as you can show you acted in good faith, you don’t have to worry that a court will second-guess your disciplinary decisions …

Strong privacy policy can curtail rifling through files

07/11/2008
Employees who are involved in employment disputes often think they can simply gather up any evidence they find lying about and turn it over to their lawyers. Smart employers try to limit the damage that revealing such confidential information may bring by holding all employees to reasonable privacy and confidentiality rules …