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Terminations

Contesting unemployment? Prove misconduct was willful

11/23/2011
Employees fired for willful misconduct aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation. If you terminate someone for breaking a workplace rule, be prepared to prove that the employee knew about the rule and understood it.

Employee eligible for unemployment comp if he quits because hours have dried up

11/23/2011

Employees generally aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation if they leave their jobs voluntarily. On the other hand, employees are eligible if they leave for “compelling and necessitous” reasons. One of those reasons may be a drastic reduction in available work.

Is employee being set up to fail? Beware boss’s criticism of ‘soft’ skills

11/23/2011
Discrimination can creep into the workplace, even if on the surface there’s nothing blatantly offensive going on. There are still supervisors who treat subordinates poorly because of race or some other protected characteristic. That’s why HR should exercise caution before authorizing discipline against an employee who is meeting concrete goals like sales figures, but is being criticized for more general problems.

Tell supervisors: No matter the inconvenience, never interfere with employees’ FMLA rights

11/23/2011
Let’s face it: It makes a manager’s job harder when employees are out on FMLA leave. That’s especially true with intermittent leave. Don’t let those hard feelings turn into an FMLA interference lawsuit. Instead, insist that managers honor approved intermittent leave without hassling the employee.

Institution has last word for state higher-ed whistle-blower

11/18/2011
Good news for public colleges and universities: When staff blow the whistle on alleged wrongdoing and the institution has a sound policy for dealing with such allegations, the employee can’t also take the claim to federal court.

NLRB on social media: Facebook firing didn’t break law

11/16/2011

While the law concerning acceptable employee use of social media remains uncertain, the NLRB is starting to shed more light on what conduct is acceptable under the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB has issued a decision in Karl Knauz Motors Inc., holding that Knauz did not violate the NLRA when it terminated an employee.

Beware firing after good employee complains

11/16/2011
Think twice before firing a good employee who has complained. If she can prove she earned excellent reviews and had good attendance, she may win a jury trial based on timing alone.

Never base RIF decision on FMLA leave status

11/16/2011

Employees who take FMLA leave don’t enjoy greater protection than anyone else when it comes to reductions in force. If a position would have been eliminated regardless of whether the employee took FMLA leave, then the termination doesn’t violate the law. On the other hand, it’s dangerous to change who is scheduled to be laid off after learning that an em­­ployee plans to take FMLA leave.

Freeport firefighter claims union talk led to firing

11/09/2011
Legal action is heating up the Panhandle town of Freeport, after firefighter John Carter sued the mayor and the fire chief.

Courts won’t second-guess honest business decisions

11/09/2011
Courts hesitate to second-guess an employer’s decision to cut staff for economic reasons. Generally, employees have to challenge such decisions head on, with direct evidence of discrimination. That’s hard to do.