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Firing

Employee late submitting FMLA certification? Don’t just fire! Find out why

08/14/2012

Employees are supposed to get FMLA certifications back to their employers within 15 days. But it’s not a good idea to terminate an employee simply because you didn’t receive the paperwork on time. The FMLA regulations include an out for employees who miss the deadline for reasons beyond their control.

Save a life, lose your job

08/14/2012
Lifeguard Tomas Lopez was perched atop his chair at Hallandale Beach on July 1 when he heard calls for help. He sprinted down the beach, dove into the Atlantic and helped rescue a man who was struggling in the surf. The swimmer survived; the lifeguard’s job did not …

New hire requests FMLA? Beware retaliation

08/14/2012
Is it protected activity that can’t be punished if an employee who is not yet eligible asks to take FMLA leave? Put another way, can an employer fire an employee who requests FMLA leave before the employee is actually eligible? A federal court has said, “No!” That’s illegal retaliation.

Fired sales rep did not return our iPad! Can we deduct its value from his last check?

08/13/2012
Q. We recently fired a veteran sales representative on short notice. He still has a new iPad that we purchased to help make sales presentations. We have repeatedly asked him to return the iPad, but he is ignoring our requests. Can we now just deduct the cost from his last paycheck?

OK to fire employee who complained, if you have rock-solid discharge reasons

08/13/2012

Some employees assume that complaining about harassment or discrimination will protect them from being disciplined. They may have heard or read that the fear of a retaliation lawsuit will make employers so gun-shy that they won’t crack down on misbehavior. Don’t let employees handcuff you like that.

Fairmont English teacher terminated for name-calling

08/07/2012
What’s in a name? That’s what the Kettering Board of Education asked two years ago after Fairmont High School English teacher Michael Togliatti began calling his students “idiot,” “troll” and “hobbit.”

Leave policy goes above and beyond FMLA? Make sure court sees your generosity

08/03/2012
If, like many employers, you offer employees more than the required 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave in any given year, you may have a powerful response to a disability or FMLA discrimination lawsuit.

Nassau County settles suit with septuagenarian lifeguard

08/03/2012
He may not make the cast of “Bay­­watch,” but Jay Lieberfarb now has $65,000 that says Nassau County was wrong to fire him from his job as a lifeguard in 2009.

Texas Supreme Court clarifies: It’s not age bias if new worker is older than the original

07/31/2012
The Texas Supreme Court has just made it much easier for employers to avoid age discrimination claims. In what the court calls a “true replacement case” under the Texas Commission on Human Rights Act, an older worker must show that she was replaced by a younger worker.

Is it legal to raise sales quotas and then fire reps who don’t meet them?

07/27/2012

Q. As a large retail business, we employ several demo reps who present products to shoppers in the hope they’ll buy them. Recently, we’ve had to put increasing pressure on our demo reps to increase sales up to 200%. If a demo rep doesn’t meet the new goal, can we terminate him or her? Do they have legal recourse should they be fired?