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Terminations

Track discipline to show equal treatment for all workers

05/05/2008
Insist that managers tell HR when they issue any form of discipline, even an oral warning. That way, there’s a record that you can later use to explain why it only looks like a discharged employee was punished more harshly than others who committed the same offense …

Discharging ill employee for performance? Better make sure you can prove it

05/05/2008
Courts often suspect the worst when employers fire severely ill employees. A judge may bend over backward trying to find a way to help the employee. An employer that can’t offer concrete, solid and compelling reasons for the termination may very well find itself trying to defend a “regarded as disabled” lawsuit …

Are there unusual protected statuses that can limit an employer’s right to terminate?

05/05/2008
Q. We know that it is unlawful to discriminate against employees on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age and disability. Do any other protected classifications exist under Texas law that might limit an employer’s right to terminate a worker employed at will? …

$250,000 in federal aid to help Upper Rio Grande economy

05/05/2008
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it plans to give $250,000 to Texas to help the Upper Rio Grande region deal with the factory layoffs affecting several western counties …

Severance pay is FICA taxable

05/02/2008
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that severance pay is considered taxable wages under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). The decision in CSX Corporation v. United States means organizations must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on severance payments …

FMLA protection can be triggered by ‘Potential’ of serious illness

05/02/2008
But does the FMLA cover leave taken by an employee who thinks he has a serious condition and needs some tests to check it out? Yes, it does. That’s why employers should never discipline or fire employees while they’re in this “limbo” medical stage …

You can require absent employees to follow call-In process

05/01/2008
To manage the workload, employers have to know who will be at work and who will not. After all, when an employee isn’t at work, someone else has to step in and get the work done. Of course, employees sometimes do get sick or have emergencies. A well-crafted call-in policy can help employers cope with unexpected absences …

Despite complaint, unreasonable demands may merit firing

05/01/2008
An employer often bends over backward when an employee says she’s been harassed. It feels compelled to treat the complaining employee with kid gloves to avoid possible retaliation charges. That may be a mistake, especially if the employee becomes disruptive and generally uncooperative …`

When discrimination charges are possible, investigate thoroughly before firing

05/01/2008
When you fire an employee, you want the decision to stick. You certainly don’t want to use a flimsy reason for discharge and then find out later that other employees regularly ignore your rule. If the former employee is a member of a protected class, that’s a sure recipe for a discrimination lawsuit …

Complaining about harassment of non-Employee isn’t protected activity

05/01/2008
Ordinarily, employers can’t punish employees who stand up for co-workers who are being discriminated against. But what if the employee speaks out against the employer’s treatment of someone who is not an employee? As the following case shows, punishing the employee probably doesn’t violate Title VII …