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Terminations

Former N.C. health plan official says firing was unjust

08/22/2008
George Stokes, former chief executive of North Carolina’s state employee health insurance plan, claims he was unlawfully fired and that lawmakers spread inaccurate information while ousting him …

State worker resigns over Helms flag flap

08/22/2008
The manager of the North Carolina state government’s standards laboratory created a stir in July when he ordered his department not to fly its flags at half-staff in honor of the memory of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms …

Judge: ‘Language and national origin not interchangeable’

08/22/2008
Lucas Lopez-Galvan, a native of the Dominican Republic, was hired in June 2005 as a tailor in a Men’s Wearhouse store in Charlotte. Regional tailor Nitin Bulsara, who is fluent in Spanish, hired Lopez despite the fact that Lopez does not speak English.

Can we require repayment of moving expenses if a new employee quits?

08/22/2008
Q. Our company plans to hire a manager who will move to North Carolina from out of state. We will pay her moving expenses. Can we recoup those payments if she quits after moving here? …

Is it permissible to recover education reimbursements from final paychecks?

08/22/2008
Q. Our company has a program that reimburses employees for work-related educational programs. However, if the employee leaves the company within one year of the reimbursement payment, the employee must repay the company. Can we take this repayment out of the employee’s final paycheck? …

The 6 kinds of terminations … and how to avoid lawsuits for each one

08/21/2008
Terminations are the spark to many employment lawsuits. And for each of the six kinds, there are some common steps employers can take to make sure they defend themselves if the termination is challenged in court …

Dealing with negative leave balances

08/21/2008
Q. I know I must pay exempt employees their full salaries even if they have no accrued benefits in their leave plans and their accounts have negative balances. But can I keep negative balance tallies and then subtract the negative balances as the employees earn more leave? — T.C., Virginia …

Stubble trouble: Can you fire unshaven employees?

08/21/2008
Do any of your employees look like they’ve just crawled out of a suitcase? A court recently addressed this question: If an employee is fired for ignoring his boss’s demands to get a shave, does that count as “misconduct” that disqualifies him from unemployment benefits? …

Termination by phone: legal but unwise

08/21/2008
Q. We have an employee who has been working from home. We’ve decided we really need someone in the office. Can we terminate her by phone? Or do we have to call her into the office? — V.N., Florida …

Firing OK if FMLA return date isn’t honored

08/19/2008
When an employee goes out on FMLA leave, set a return date and stick to it. If she doesn’t show up back to work and doesn’t ask for an extension or a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, you are free to terminate her, effective at the end of the leave …