02/07/2011
A former secretary at a Nacogdoches vehicle dealership says the sexual harassment there was so severe she had no choice but to quit. That’s the definition of “constructive discharge,” and it’s the basis of the lawsuit Jennifer Burch has filed against Eastex Tractor & Powersports.
|
01/28/2011
It’s expensive to train employees, especially if the job is highly specialized. Smart employers protect their investments by having new employees sign an agreement to repay training costs if they leave soon after receiving the valuable benefit. Here’s how to recoup those costs.
|
01/11/2011
Courts are losing patience with former employees who wait to sue an employer—as long as the employer can produce concrete proof that the employee filed too late.
|
01/07/2011
Employees who believe they work in a hostile environment can quit and claim they were “constructively discharged,” arguing that no reasonable person would stay and suffer intolerable conditions. But when an employer responds to a resignation with entreaties to stay, chances are the employee will have a hard time arguing things were so terrible she had to quit.
|
01/07/2011
Every once in a while, an employee is such a pain in the neck that a manager wishes he would just quit. Methodically, the boss makes life increasingly difficult for the problem child. Finally, the employee resigns. Problem solved, right? Wrong! Now the employee can sue, claiming “constructive discharge.”
|
12/03/2010
Some supervisors wrongly assume that employees can’t sue if they quit—only if they’re fired. That makes some bosses think the best way to get rid of overly litigious employees is to make life so horrible that they quit. That’s not smart. Employees who find working conditions so intolerable that they have no choice but to quit can still sue for constructive discharge.
|
11/15/2010
Courts are beginning to get tough on employees who say they had no choice but to quit and then sue for alleged discrimination.
|
11/15/2010
Do you suspect a rogue supervisor is driving away employees belonging to a protected class? If so, begin asking tougher questions during your exit interviews. For example, if several black employees who work under the same supervisor have quit or requested transfers, find out why. The problem may be a biased supervisor ...
|
11/11/2010
To deal with a down economy, employers sometimes cut employee pay. A significant pay reduction may be grounds for an employee to quit and collect unemployment.
|
10/28/2010
The news is filled with stories about unemployed workers who can’t find jobs. Yet despite the downturn, some employees find they still must quit their jobs to care for elderly parents. In Pennsylvania, the law makes that easier.
|
10/26/2010
Some supervisors wrongly assume that employees who quit can’t sue because they weren’t fired. That’s not true. An employee who finds conditions so intolerable that he or she has no choice but to quit can sue and allege termination. Fortunately, courts expect employees to have relatively thick skins. Workplaces will never be perfect and courts don’t expect them to be.
|
10/07/2010
Can an employee you never fired sue you for a discriminatory termination? Oddly enough, yes. Under some circumstances, an employee can quit and claim she was “constructively discharged.” To do so, she has to show conditions at work were intolerable. And now a federal court has concluded that cutting someone’s pay can be an intolerable condition.
|
09/24/2010
Courts are starting to toss out lawsuits brought by employees who quit at the first sign of trouble without at least trying to work out a solution. Judges aren’t as willing as they were in the past to accept quitting as just another form of termination. Instead, they seem to be telling employees they need to give their employers a chance to fix problems before resorting to litigation.
|
09/22/2010
Q. If an employee resigns and gives two weeks’ notice, can we tell him he isn’t needed for the two weeks and avoid paying him for that time?
|
09/08/2010
Noncompete covenants in Texas must be limited to a reasonable geographic area or they aren’t enforceable. Unfortunately for employers, that geographic area is usually fairly small.
|