• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Terminations

Age bias: 6 parts of a legal severance waiver

09/08/2015

Severance packages must conform to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and its companion law, the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. Together, the two laws dictate how you can legally ask employees to waive their rights to sue. When asking employees to waive their rights to age discrimination lawsuits, the waiver must fulfill the following conditions.

Believe employee lied? That’s grounds for firing

09/05/2015
You have the right to expect honesty from your employees. You can fire if you reasonably believe an employee lied about an absence, knowing that you are on safe legal ground if the employee sues.

Parking employee fired for venting at grief session

09/01/2015
After a young, inexperienced driver for the Philadelphia Parking Authority accidentally ran over and killed a fellow employee, managers convened a grief counseling session. An already difficult gathering took a turn for the worse when the grief counselor asked for ideas on how to prevent such accidents …

Insubordination is in the eye of the employer

09/01/2015
Think an employee is acting disrespectfully? Firing him for insubordination will probably stick.

Employee quitting for medical reasons? Consider offering accommodation

09/01/2015

Employees who quit their jobs for “necessitous and compelling” reasons may still be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits. Quitting because of medical problems sometimes qualifies. That’s why employers should consider offering accommodations if an employee says he needs to quit for medical reasons. An accommodation offer may mean there’s no “necessitous and compelling” reason to quit.

Anticipate lawsuit by offering second chance, fresh supervisor to struggling employee

08/24/2015
If a marginal employee is having a hard time getting along with his boss, think about giving him a second chance with a new supervisor. It may help—and it won’t hurt if you still end up firing the employee.

Progressive discipline can help win bias suits

08/13/2015

Discharged employees often sue, counting on their protected status—based on race, sex, national origin and so on—to create the impression that they were fired for discriminatory reasons. That’s why it’s important to use a progressive discipline system. It lets you counter discrimination allegations with solid, documented performance or behavior problems that warranted discharge.

5,000 terminations, 0 lawsuits: Her 7-step plan for success

08/06/2015
An interview with Charlotte Miller, a former state bar president, corporate general counsel and currently the senior VP of People and Great Work for O.C. Tanner, reveals her strategy for litigation-free terminations.

Easy hack: Former employees often keep network access

08/03/2015
It’s Item No. 1 on the termination checklist: Ensure former employees can’t get into the computer system. But only about half of IT administrators say they completely cut off network access the same day an employee is terminated.

School boards have wide latitude to terminate teachers for financial reasons

07/29/2015
A Texas appellate court has upheld the discharge of a teacher for financial reasons. The case shows school districts have great discretion to determine which employees to cut and don’t have to be bogged down in a detailed examination.