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Discipline / Investigations

REDA provides whistle-blower protection during some internal investigations, too

09/26/2008

Until recently, it was unclear whether reporting unsafe or illegal working conditions to an internal auditor or another responsible party was “protected activity” under the North Carolina Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act (REDA). Now a federal court has decided that REDA may cover internal reports …

Serenex chemist sold pharmaceutical secrets to Chinese

09/26/2008

Serenex, the Durham-based biopharmaceutical company, is due to collect $57.5 million from two Chinese companies and a former Serenex employee who Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens said conspired to steal trade secrets. But it’s doubtful Serenex will ever collect the money …

Speaking of free rides …

09/26/2008

A report released by a regional accrediting agency showed that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe received a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University even though he earned only 15 of the required 28 credits for the degree …

Ban obviously racist comments, or prepare to face EEOC discrimination lawsuit

09/24/2008

Some talk doesn’t belong at work. Period. If you don’t ban racist comments, you’ll probably face an EEOC lawsuit …

Lukewarm response to racism leads to walkout

09/24/2008

Eighteen workers filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) against retail hardware supplier Crown Bolt in August to protest racist graffiti in the Carlisle warehouse where they worked …

State probes purchase of phony diplomas and degrees

09/24/2008

Attorney General Tom Corbett is investigating more than 135 Pennsylvania residents who allegedly bought diplomas from a business in Spokane, Wash., that sold high school diplomas and college degrees under the name Saint Regis University …

Football coach kills self as police probe messages to student

09/23/2008

Marty Deputy, an English and Bible literature teacher and football coach at Pike Central High School in Petersburg, committed suicide on Sept. 2, hours before his former assistant coach surrendered to police over charges of inappropriate conduct …

Showing restraint: Ensuring worker safety with workplace protective orders

09/23/2008

A disgruntled employee is terminated for poor performance. On his way out, he threatens his manager and co-workers. Fortunately, situations like this usually end with the terminated employee cooling off, filing for unemployment and getting on with his life. But what happens when the employee doesn’t let it go? …

Apprentice forms and paycheck deductions

09/23/2008

Q. One of the positions in our manufacturing company has a formal apprenticeship program. To stay accredited, we must submit monthly reports showing the number of classroom training hours in which each apprentice participates. Submission of these forms is mandatory, and yet every month there are always some apprentices (for whatever reason) who fail to submit their forms. Can we withhold a portion of an apprentice’s paycheck at the end of the month until we receive the training reports? …

Was worker claiming harassment part of the problem?

09/22/2008

Employers are supposed to make sure that harassment doesn’t happen—and stop it if it does. But sometimes, the employee complaining the loudest may actually be part of the problem. If that’s the case, the responsible thing to do is to stop all the harassment, from all the participants …