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  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
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Terminations

Layoffs looming? Help workers find internal opportunities

07/05/2012

You never know which terminated employee will sue or for what. That’s why you should treat every layoff as a potential lawsuit. Defend yourself by doing all you can to help employees who may lose their jobs find other opportunities within the company.

Equal opportunity discipline: Don’t let rogue bosses subvert your anti-harassment policy

07/05/2012

If you set rules for employees to follow, then make sure everyone in the organization follows them. That includes supervisors. Otherwise, your policies aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

Need to contact employee out on FMLA leave? Be sure to document reason for the call

07/05/2012

Employees on FMLA leave are entitled to be left alone. Super­visors shouldn’t send work home with the employee or call constantly to check up. That could be considered FMLA leave interference. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t get in touch with the em­­ployee about important and urgent matters or enforce your broader call-in policies.

HR director sues over president’s hiring preferences

07/05/2012
The former HR director at J. Chris­­to­­­pher Capital has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the Manhattan ven­­ture capital firm, claiming the company’s founder stated that he only wanted gay men and beautiful women working for him.

Can employee who resigned collect unemployment?

07/03/2012
Q. Is an employee who resigns entitled to receive unemployment compensation under Texas law?

Does Texas have any unusual protected classes?

07/03/2012
Q. Other than race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age and disability, are there any other protected classifications under Texas law that might limit an employer’s right to terminate an at-will worker employed?

Was Plano dismissal a layoff–or age bias?

07/03/2012
An electrician with 25 years of service to the Plano Independent School District has sued, alleging he was fired because of his age, not because the district needed to cut staff.

Longview nursing home slapped with retaliation suit

07/03/2012
A Tyler nurse is suing the nursing home where she once worked, claiming she was fired in retaliation for filing an EEOC complaint.

Lawsuit: TDCJ demotion wasn’t just due to faulty time sheets

07/03/2012

The former director of public information at the Texas Department of Crimi­nal Justice (TDCJ) is suing the agency after she was demoted and subsequently resigned. She says her demotion was retaliation for blowing the whistle on internal violations of state law and policy.

Employee works despite FMLA leave? That’s not your fault–nor FMLA interference

07/03/2012

When employees need intermittent FMLA leave, they are entitled to take time off free from work responsibilities. Of course, that may leave some tasks undone. Some employees, especially those in management positions, may feel obliged to work additional hours, or may sometimes forgo taking leave. As long as there’s no employer pressure to get the work done, that extra work won’t support an FMLA-interference lawsuit.