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Terminations

Malverne to pay $100,000 for wrongful firing

10/01/2007

A federal jury has awarded $100,000 for pain and suffering to a former director of special education for the Malverne School District, who claimed she was fired for reporting sexual harassment. The director lost her underlying sexual harassment suit, but prevailed on the wrongful-firing claim …

Don’t fire before knowing employee can’t return from leave

10/01/2007

Employees are guaranteed only 12 weeks’ unpaid FMLA leave per year and have no right to return to their jobs if they can’t make it back after their time is up. But that doesn’t mean you should prepare the paperwork to terminate the employee on the day their leave expires. Wait until you get medical documentation showing the employee can’t return …

About to be fired, trucker kills boss and ‘Backup’ worker

10/01/2007

Douglas Smith, local manager for Liberty Transportation in Perrysburg Township, foresaw trouble as he prepared to fire truck driver Calvin Findlay. Liberty, based in New Alexandria, PA, sent Thomas Lazar, an employee who was also a retired Pennsylvania state trooper, to help Smith, who worked alone …

‘Youth movement’ comment not enough to sink dealership’s case

10/01/2007

Tom Ahl Buick prevailed in an age discrimination suit despite the fact that owner Tom Ahl told the plaintiff his Lima dealership was having a “youth movement.” He later demoted the 40-something plaintiff from his sales manager position and hired a 25-year-old former furniture salesman to take over …

Speedway SuperAmerica prevails on retaliation charges

10/01/2007

Speedway SuperAmerica, the Enon-based convenience store chain, won a recent sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit by a former cashier in a West Virginia store. The cashier alleged that she endured repeated sexual harassment by a co-worker. Shortly after complaining, she came up $200 short on her cash register. The company did not accuse her of stealing, but fired her …

Rights of returning Iraq vets

10/01/2007

Q. One of my employees is scheduled to return this fall from a two-year tour of duty in Iraq. What rights does this employee have regarding his return to work? …

Public employers: Beware association discrimination

10/01/2007

Here’s a trap for unwary public employers. Public employees can sue their agencies if they experience discrimination based on their association with persons of different races. That’s why it’s important to keep things professional and avoid any comments on an employee’s personal life or choice of associates …

‘Rubber stamp theory’ applies to Civil Service decisions, too

10/01/2007

Employees who claim they were fired illegally and whose jobs are protected by the Civil Service Act can win their lawsuits—if they can prove the Civil Service Board merely rubber-stamped a supervisor’s discriminatory decision. Until now, it was unclear whether that was the case …

When disciplining employees, pick one reason and stick with it

10/01/2007

Nothing raises suspicion among judges and juries more than inconsistent explanations. For example, shifting reasons for firing someone can backfire. You’re courting trouble if the employee filed a discrimination claim with your HR office or the EEOC or sued your organization before being fired. The key to a clean discharge—especially when the employee has filed discrimination charges—is picking a legitimate reason for firing the employee and sticking with it …

Track discipline by type and protected characteristics

10/01/2007

Do you have ready access to your organization’s discipline records? Can you say with certainty that everyone charged with the same misconduct receives the same punishment? Or is there bias hiding in those records? The best way to check is to group discipline by type of misconduct and punishment and then compare employees’ sex, race, age and other protected characteristics against punishment for the same conduct …