05/10/2013
Q. Our company has been having financial difficulties and we have considered reorganizing for several months. Our chief operating officer has been charged with determining whether any of the current jobs can be eliminated. Recently, before any final reorganization decisions were made, an employee came forward claiming that the COO had been harassing her and had created a hostile work environment ...
|
04/25/2013
The ADA doesn’t cover everyone who has any kind of medical problem. Even something like complete deafness in one ear may not be enough to make an employee disabled.
|
03/05/2013
When business is down and you need to make cost-saving cuts, it can be tempting to use that as an excuse to shed a “troublemaking” employee. Don’t do it.
|
02/28/2013
Some supervisors just can’t seem to resist offering “helpful” career advice to subordinates. But remarks concerning absences that are covered by the FMLA could be viewed as interference with a protected right, not good career advice. And that could spur a needless lawsuit if the employee is terminated.
|
02/07/2013
To prevent lawsuits over layoffs, employers often offer a severance agreement that requires the employee to waive the right to sue. When those agreements involve older workers, they have to meet very specific legal requirements.
|
02/07/2013
Some managers and supervisors just can’t seem to resist offering “helpful” career advice to subordinates. That’s especially true for workers they may see as less devoted to their work than old-school employees. But a remark concerning absences covered by the FMLA may well be viewed as interference with a protected right.
|
02/01/2013
In tight times, employers must explore every cost-saving option. After looking at several ways to balance the budget, you may decide you need to trim the workforce. Don’t be surprised if a laid-off employee sues.
|
02/01/2013
The key to a successful, challenge-proof reduction in force is using objective, measurable factors to determine who stays and who goes. That greatly reduces the likelihood that a former employee who loses his job to a RIF will win a discrimination case.
|
01/14/2013
Smart employers use past performance rankings as the major criterion for laying off employees during a reduction in force. The reason is obvious: Since the rankings predate the layoff decisions, they’re almost impossible to challenge.
|
01/11/2013
Generally, members of the military released from active duty service are entitled to return to their former jobs. But what happens if bad economic times force a layoff before the employee returns to work? Is he exempt from the cuts?
|
01/01/2013
Absent a union contract or other established rule, you don’t have to use seniority to decide which employee should be laid off. You can use any objective measure.
|
12/19/2012
No matter how well or poorly management handles it, a RIF means an organization is traveling down a difficult road. Here are four critical and often overlooked RIF pitfalls that can make the route more treacherous than it needs to be.
|
12/12/2012
Sometimes, all it takes to cure a budget shortfall is to cut one position. As a business move, doing so is just as valid as conducting a much larger layoff. As long as you can show the change was based on business needs, you won’t lose a discrimination case.
|
12/07/2012
The easiest way to make sure employees understand that they are employed on an at-will basis is to place disclaimers throughout your employee handbook. Five key elements will help those disclaimers stand up in court if an employee ever mounts a legal challenge to at-will employment.
|
12/03/2012
Dallas-based DuPriest and Sons Holding will pay $24,000 to settle EEOC charges that it violated the ADA when it laid off a longtime employee after he informed his supervisor he would need regular kidney dialysis.
|