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Terminations

Good faith is the key to litigation-Proof employment decisions

04/22/2008
Employment decisions don’t have to be perfect—they just have to be based on good faith. That’s good news, because it’s a fact that supervisors and managers will make mistakes. What that means: Just because an employee can prove management did something wrong doesn’t guarantee she will win a lawsuit …

ATA Airlines runs on empty, finally stalls as fuel costs rise

04/22/2008
Budget carrier ATA Airlines, based in Indianapolis, laid off 2,230 employees when it filed for bankruptcy and ended operations in April. The company cited skyrocketing fuel costs, plus the loss of two critical deals as primary causes for the shutdown …

South Bend postal boss’s comments not harassment

04/22/2008
Jennifer Ohda was hired in 2004 as a part-time mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in South Bend. On her first day, Ohda was assigned to a male training officer named Dale. At the end of Ohda’s shift, a supervisor, Linda Batteast, said, “Dale, tell your little helper to go home tonight and eat something.” …

Good faith is the key to litigation-Proof employment decisions

04/21/2008
Employment decisions don’t have to be perfect—they just have to be based on good faith. That’s good news because it’s a fact that supervisors and managers will make mistakes. What that means: Just because an employee can prove management did something wrong doesn’t guarantee she will win a lawsuit …

How to respond when employees’ creditors come calling

04/21/2008

Record numbers of bankruptcies and foreclosures have been making news for years. However, a quieter phenomenon—one fraught with traps for unwary employers—is a concurrent and growing trend of court-ordered or government-issued wage garnishments. Here’s practical advice on what to do when someone wants a piece of your employee’s paycheck.

Is the term ‘probationary period’ dangerous?

04/18/2008
Q. Our existing employee handbook includes a probationary period for newly hired employees. In revising the handbook, should we consider omitting this provision due to the possibility that we could be altering the at-will employment relationship?

San Francisco supervisors say high-Priced employees face layoffs

04/18/2008
Faced with a large budget shortfall, San Francisco supervisors are proposing a way to deal with the $338 million deficit the city expects next year. Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin wants to draft legislation that eliminates some high-paying city positions …

Tap into the lawsuit-saving power of self-reviews

04/17/2008

When an employee sues over an alleged discriminatory firing, courts typically make a beeline for one piece of evidence: the employee’s performance evaluation. The problem: Supervisors are notorious for giving overly kind evaluations, even to poor performers. That’s why it’s wise to get another opinion: the employee’s own …

A dim-Witted way to cut your organization’s health costs

04/17/2008
Do some of your employees’ spouses or children have serious (and expensive) health troubles? It may be tempting to offer suggestions about less costly treatments—or even to send that employee packing. But don’t do it. As this new ruling shows, it’s illegal to discriminate against employees based on their relationship with a disabled person …

Must we offer time off as an ADA accommodation?

04/17/2008

Q. We employ fewer than 50 employees. What’s our obligation under the FMLA or the ADA to bring back an employee who has missed lots of work? We want to lay her off. Can we?