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Frederick Thurman

A matter of trust: 4 ways to defend against employee disloyalty

12/31/2008

North Carolina, like many states, recognizes that employees owe a certain level of duty to their employers. However, the North Carolina Supreme Court has specifically rejected any independent liability for breaching such duty.

What is ‘blacklisting’?

12/04/2008

Q. What can or can’t we say about a lousy former employee?

Can we charge higher premiums for smokers’ health insurance?

12/04/2008

Q. I know North Carolina has a smokers’ rights law. Does this law, or any other law, prevent our company from charging smokers and nonsmokers different group health insurance premiums?

How should we handle time off for workers who are emergency volunteers?

12/04/2008

Q. Several employees at our manufacturing facility on the coast are volunteer firefighters and medics. What obligations do we have to those employees who have to miss work to respond to a hurricane or other emergencies?

Must we allow former employees access to personnel files?

12/04/2008

Q. A former employee has contacted our HR manager demanding a copy of her personnel file. Must we make this available?

Facility shutdown, vacation and unemployment

12/04/2008

Q. Our facility shuts down for two weeks at the end of the year, and we send most employees home without pay during that time. This is the only vacation time available to the employees sent home. Are those employees eligible for unemployment compensation during the furlough?

As economic route turns rough, beware these 4 RIF potholes

11/04/2008

Layoffs are in the news. With a recession looming, this necessary evil is on agendas throughout corporate America. A layoff—or RIF—is a tricky, painful process for management, those who lose their jobs and even employees who remain afterward. Here are four critical and often overlooked RIF potholes that can make the route more treacherous than it needs to be …