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Firing

Termination for legitimate business reason trumps FMLA

12/10/2013
Employers can terminate an em­­ployee about to take FMLA leave if they have legitimate business reasons that have nothing to do with taking FMLA leave.

Worker won’t sign off on handbook: Can we fire her?

12/04/2013

Q. We just updated our policy manual and are asking employees to sign a standard acknowledgment of receipt form. If an employee refuses to sign it, is that grounds for termination? Or should we just document that they refused to sign? 

Fix leave errors before they become expensive mistakes

12/03/2013
Make sure employees receive the leave they’re entitled to under Cali­­for­­nia’s Fair Employment and Hous­­ing Act (FEHA). If a supervisor terminates an employee under the mistaken belief she’s at-will and can be fired for poor attendance—when she’s really eligible for medical leave—fix the mistake immediately.

Even one employee in Texas? Then he can sue you in Texas courts

12/02/2013
Don’t assume that just because your company is not located in Texas, you can’t be sued in the state. As long as your company employs someone in Texas, that’s enough.

Document efforts to get FMLA certification

12/02/2013
There’s a right way and a wrong way to terminate an employee who isn’t returning from FMLA leave. The right way: Offer every opportunity to ask for an extension—and document that you did so. The wrong way: Just fire her when she doesn’t show up on the day she was supposed to return.

Cary salesman’s last-ditch affidavit saves age bias case

11/26/2013
A former car salesman who claimed a Cary dealership fired him because it felt selling cars was a “young man’s game” appears to have plucked victory from the jaws of legal defeat.

Employee lied about criminal convictions on application? That’s a firing offense

11/26/2013
You may have heard that the EEOC is cracking down on employers that use criminal records in hiring. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask in the hiring process.

Take steps to stop blatant customer harassment

11/26/2013
Employers can’t control everything—including situations in which customers harass employees. As long as you take reasonable measures to prevent or stop blatant harassment, a single incident won’t mean you will be liable for customer harassment.

No unemployment if jail prevents coming to work

11/19/2013
You can terminate an employee for missing work because he had to spend the night in jail. He won’t be eligible for unemployment benefits because the firing was for misconduct related to regular attendance.

Facebook posts earn Walmart employee the ax

11/14/2013
Walmart managers at the chain’s Hamburg store in suburban Buffalo moved quickly after the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations alerted it to anti-Islamic Facebook postings by one of its assistant managers.