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Terminations

Tell supervisors: No stereotyping based on national origin

06/03/2008
It’s important to remind all supervisors to judge employees on their individual merits—and not to indulge stereotypes. As the following case shows, using stereotypes in any critique of job performance may be enough evidence of national origin discrimination to merit a possible jury trial …

There’s pretext, and then there’s not even bothering

06/03/2008
It makes a judge’s job easier when a company just fires workers for complaining, rather than trying to concoct elaborate rationalizations. That’s the tack evidently taken by Pillow Kingdom of Denver …

Now hear this: You’ll pay for firing worker out on health leave

06/03/2008
Colorado Sports and Spine Centers has just agreed to pay $137,500 to settle a discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of former employee Kristina Siebert. The CSSC fired Siebert after she took time off to be fitted for hearing aids …

Fire away … but be prepared to defend terminations

06/03/2008
Employment terminations fall into several categories. Whether the situation involves new hires who didn’t work out, firings for cause or performance issues, or voluntary resignations, terminations often lead to litigation. For each type of termination, there are some common ways employers can make sure they can defend themselves if challenged …

Dealing with a fired employee who signed an arbitration agreement

06/03/2008
Q. All of our applicants sign an arbitration agreement. Recently, for the first time, an employee we fired (he had signed the agreement) had a lawyer send us a letter complaining about his termination. Can we use the agreement to prevent the employee from filing a claim for unemployment benefits or a charge of discrimination? …

The 6 Kinds of Terminations … And 6 Corresponding Ways to Avoid Being Sued

06/03/2008

Employment terminations fall into several categories. Whether the situation involves new hires who didn’t work out, firings for cause or performance issues, or voluntary resignations, terminations often lead to litigation. For each type of termination, there are some common ways employers can make sure they can defend themselves if challenged …

Restrict access to data about protected characteristics

06/03/2008
One of the most important HR functions is monitoring whether your organization is unwittingly discriminating when hiring, firing or promoting. To do that, you obviously have to know who belongs to what protected classification. At the same time, you don’t necessarily want the supervisors and managers who make employment decisions to have that information at their fingertips …

Management bias not necessarily enough to justify quitting

06/03/2008
Employees who complain that other employees have been discriminated against can’t just walk off the job and sue, claiming their working conditions were intolerable. The workplace must be more than merely unpleasant to justify a claimed constructive discharge …

Be sure to coordinate with FMLA administrator before firing

05/30/2008
If you outsource to another company to administer your FMLA process, work closely with it to ensure you aren’t firing an employee who has been approved for FMLA leave. Instead, make it standard practice to double-check FMLA status before taking any employment action …

‘Just the facts’ answer is key to avoiding reference trouble

05/30/2008
One of the quickest ways to get into reference trouble is to agree to provide information on a former employee and then offer up incorrect or misleading statements. Giving a favorable reference on a former employee who performed (or behaved) poorly can be extremely risky …