Terminations

Beware overly broad drug policies, which could violate ADA rules about revealing a disability

03/14/2012

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has handed a significant victory to the EEOC, allowing the agency to continue to supervise settled cases. The impact: Employers should expect continued EEOC charges even after the ink is dry on their settlements.

Warn bosses: Bias could mean punitive damages

03/14/2012

Warn decision-makers who decide to act on their own, ignoring HR’s guidance: Juries can hold them personally liable for legal missteps—and make them pay punitive damages.

Employee tried to comply? He may get unemployment

03/13/2012

The Court of Appeal of Florida has concluded that employees fired for poor attendance must have a chance to show they tried to comply with their employer’s attendance policies before they are denied unemployment compensation benefits.

Threatening behavior trumps employee’s disability claim

03/13/2012

Employees who are suffering from depression, anxiety or other psychological problems may be disabled, but that doesn’t mean they’re excused from following the rules. For example, employers don’t have to tolerate threats, even if the threats concern the employee’s disability.

When RIF costs protected employee’s job, take care how you reassign the work

03/09/2012

Here’s something to consider when planning a reduction in force: If you know the move will mean someone in a protected class will lose his job, think strategically in case he sues.

Be flexible on deadlines after FMLA leave

03/09/2012

When employees take FMLA leave (or other time off related to a disability), make sure you adjust any work deadlines. Otherwise, you risk a retaliation claim.

Employees can’t hide behind FMLA to dodge legitimate discipline

03/08/2012

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a worker who claimed she was fired in retaliation for taking intermittent FMLA leave. The court ruled that she was fired for the most defensible of all reasons: She treated a customer badly.

Don’t expect access to employees’ past job records to prove poor performance

03/06/2012

If a fired employee sues your organization, alleging discrimination, you’ll probably want to argue that the real reason was the employee’s poor work performance. Maybe you’ll want to claim that it was a mistake to hire the employee in the first place. Well, don’t expect the court to let you go on a fishing expedition into the employee’s past jobs.

When co-workers marry, you can require one of them to resign

03/05/2012

It’s perfectly legitimate to try to prevent sexual harassment and allegations of favoritism by instituting a policy that bans romantic relationships between co-workers. You can even require one spouse to resign when co-workers marry.

Make sure employees understand the method you use to calculate FMLA leave