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Terminations

Fire employee for positive cocaine test

06/01/2006

Q. We are a small but growing construction company, and we don’t have formal policies in place. Recently, one of our employees was involved in an accident at a construction site. This is his third accident. After the second time, we had him sign a warning notice that said he’d be terminated if it happened again. We sent him for drug testing after this third accident and he came back positive for cocaine. We want to terminate him. But we suspended another worker who tested positive for marijuana. Can we fire him? —B.O., Pennsylvania

‘Last straw’ needn’t be egregious to justify firing

06/01/2006

Employers often bend over backward to give employees second chances. But when second chances turn into third and fourth chances, you’ll  probably lose your patience and send the employee packing. Some employers, however, wrongly believe that they must cite a particularly serious behavior or performance problem as the last straw before termination. As a new ruling shows, that’s simply not true …

Don’t editorialize about merits of employee complaints

06/01/2006

Process every employee complaint without commenting on its merits or on the potential consequences of making the complaint. Remind managers to do the same. Never make snide comments …

Trauma of being fired won’t extend FMLA rights

06/01/2006

A new court ruling means you’ll face less worry about legal liabilities stemming from the psychological impact of firing employees on FMLA leave …

Apply good judgment to legal considerations

06/01/2006

Q. An employee left work on a Monday due to an illness. She called in sick Tuesday and Wednesday, but we heard nothing on Thursday or Friday. Our policy calls for termination if the employee doesn’t contact us within three days. We posted her job on Friday and decided to terminate her. On Monday, her fiancé called to tell us she was pregnant and had complications that led to a hospital visit. We got a note from her OB-GYN saying she’d been seen, but not indicating when she could return. What should we do to avoid any legal fall out? —K.A., New York

Interview notes can be a binding contract

05/01/2006
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Explicit Sex Talk by the ‘Victim’ Can Be Used as Harassment Defense

05/01/2006

If an employee claims she was sexually harassed but the evidence shows that she gave as good as she got, you have a good defense in hand. As a new ruling shows, employees’ sexual statements can be used against them when they sue for sexual harassment …

Harassment Investigations Must Be ‘Fundamentally Fair’ to the Accused

05/01/2006

When a sexual harassment accusation arises, employers often move into crisis mode. But don’t try to push the problem off your plate by quickly jettisoning the employee via a kangaroo court …

Heed the legal limits of video monitoring in the workplace

05/01/2006
Monitoring employees with video cameras probably doesn’t violate employee privacy rights, but employers should make sure they don’t step over the line of reasonable privacy concerns, such as monitoring dressing rooms …

Be wary of disciplining employees soon after union activities

05/01/2006

Courts, the NLRB and state labor relations boards are becoming more open to employee’s claims that they were disciplined in response to their union activities, even when no connection exists. For that reason, it’s important to be cognizant of your timing when taking action against a union worker …