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Firing

Firing during FMLA leave? Prove FMLA wasn’t reason

11/04/2021
Employees cannot be fired for taking FMLA leave. If you must terminate someone who has taken FMLA leave, be prepared to show it had nothing to do with their leave-taking. Do that by contemporaneously documenting what led to the termination and when you made the decision to fire.

How to take the sting—and legal risk—out of terminations

10/21/2021
Is there a “best” way to fire an employee? There is no conversation more traumatic for both the employer delivering the message and the employee receiving it. That said, there are some best practices that can help for all involved.

Employers begin firing covid vaccine refusers

10/07/2021
The Biden administration hasn’t even finished drafting rules for mandatory employee covid-19 vaccinations, but employers are already taking action. Some large employers have begun firing noncompliant workers or announced new mandates after previous incentives failed to get more workers vaccinated. Here are some examples.

If employee is fired for refusing vaccine, can he still collect unemployment?

09/17/2021
As more employers mandate the vaccine for their workers, some employees are asking an important question: If I’m fired for refusing my company’s vaccine mandate, would I still qualify for unemployment?

Fired HR pro faces prison for sabotaging resume database

09/07/2021
A fired HR director from Florida has been convicted of illegally accessing and damaging her former employer’s computer files after she deleted tens of thousands of HR records.

Investigate before firing alleged FMLA ‘liar’

09/02/2021
Generally, employers are allowed to fire employees they believe lied about their need for FMLA leave. But there is an important proviso: The employer must act in good faith, showing it conducted an investigation into whether the employee was entitled to leave or not.

PIP: Offer chance to improve before firing

08/05/2021
Smart employers make it a standard practice to establish performance improvement plans before terminating employees who can’t do their jobs properly. PIPs can help turn around an underperforming worker. They also demonstrate your good faith to courts, assuring them that a subsequent firing was because of a performance problem, not discrimination.

Can you fire worker for being a public jerk?

06/17/2021
When an employee’s bad behavior outside of the workplace draws negative attention on your organization online, is it legal to terminate that person?

4 smart things to do when hiring and firing remotely

05/14/2021
Leaders know that bringing new people on board and handling terminations properly are two activities too important to perform haphazardly. While remote hiring and firing pose challenges, managers cannot use location as an excuse to slack.

Firing after FMLA leave: How soon is ‘too soon’ to trigger retaliation?

03/18/2021
When it comes to the FMLA, courts will always pull out their calendars to see how closely the employee’s protected activity (requesting or taking FMLA leave) coincides with the adverse action handed down by the employer (discipline, termination, etc.). The smaller the time, the bigger your risk of losing an FMLA-retaliation lawsuit.