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Terminations

Faced with explaining itself to a jury, hospital settles

06/26/2009

According to the EEOC, Pittsburgh-based Lifecare Hospital showed a remarkable lack of compassion when it fired business manager Diana Altieri-Hand, who had cancer at the time. Saner heads prevailed once hospital officials contemplated the prospect of a hospital justifying to a jury why it mistreated a cancer patient.

Meenan Oil settles age discrimination lawsuit

06/26/2009

Tullytown-based Meenan Oil has settled an age discrimination suit filed by 72-year-old Louis Ceccoli, who was fired and then replaced by a substantially younger worker. Ceccoli built his case on derogatory comments his sales manager made about older workers.

Don’t throw the book at fired employee–one good reason will suffice in court

06/23/2009

The more reasons you can dream up to fire an employee, the better. Right? Think again. Firing someone for one obvious rule violation will stand up better in court than a laundry list of petty transgressions …

You can discharge disabled employee if there’s no way to know when she’ll return

06/22/2009

Employers don’t have to provide a disabled employee with an indefinite leave of absence when the employee has a medical emergency and doesn’t know how long it will take to return to work. As long as the employee isn’t covered by the FMLA (in which case, she would be entitled to 12 unpaid weeks of leave), you can terminate her without violating the ADA.

Stick to your story: Don’t shift explanation for termination

06/22/2009

One of the most legally dangerous things you can do after you terminate an employee is change the reason for ending the employment relationship. Instead, decide on a defensible rationale at the time of the termination. Document that decision and all the supporting evidence. Then remind execs and supervisors to stay on script.

When does ADHD count as a protected ‘disability’?

06/22/2009

Do you have employees who are easily distracted, restless, disorganized and forgetful? Maybe that’s just who they are—or maybe they’ve been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). It’s an “invisible” disability, but one court recently said employers shouldn’t be so fast to discount it. A disability is a disability … whether you can see it or not.

Pregnant poor performer: Can we fire her?

06/22/2009

Q. We have a pregnant employee who is planning to take maternity leave soon. Her performance has deteriorated badly during her pregnancy, but we don’t think her pregnancy has anything to do with it. Can we terminate?

Suspect FMLA leave abuse? Tread carefully

06/12/2009

Employees who take intermittent FMLA leave can often cause real problems for employers because they take time off so sporadically. But sometimes you may detect a pattern that indicates the employee might be abusing authorized intermittent leave. Can you fire him?

On-demand leave isn’t reasonable accommodation

06/12/2009

Some employees think that any disability that periodically acts up entitles them to unlimited time off. Sometimes, courts view extra time off as a reasonable accommodation, but there are limits.

Warn managers and supervisors: No negative talk about military service

06/12/2009

Here’s a good way to avoid litigation: Warn all your supervisors and managers that bad-mouthing an employee’s military service can spell trouble. That’s because any disciplinary action following such talk could be viewed as evidence military service was a factor in the decision.