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Discipline / Investigations

Attorney General’s office settles sex harassment claims

02/12/2009

Two women who filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually harassed while working for former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann have settled their legal claims. Current Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that the agency had settled the women’s claims for $247,000 each, including attorneys’ fees.

What are our legal options? It turns out, an employee who is suing us was a thief!

02/12/2009

Q. Our company is being sued by an employee for discrimination. During the lawsuit proceedings, we discovered that he had been stealing from us. Do we have any recourse?

Preach zero tolerance for any harassment

02/12/2009

Employers are responsible if they know or have reason to know about a hostile work environment created by employees and do nothing to fix it. As a practical matter, what employers hear and see may be just the tip of the iceberg. Smart employers immediately attempt to get the whole picture and then correct the harassing behavior.

Set an example: It’s OK to punish managers more harshly than subordinates

02/12/2009

Impressions do matter, and employers are free to demand more of supervisors and managers than of those who sit lower on the company totem pole. All else being equal, you can treat it as a more serious violation when someone in authority breaks the same rule as an underling.

Public employer alert: Know when you can discipline employees for speaking out

02/12/2009

Public employers know they can’t punish employees who speak out on matters of public importance. Government employees have a Constitutional right to free speech. But that doesn’t mean you must treat with kid gloves every employee who mouths off—or that you can’t legitimately discipline those employees.

Don’t sweat new supervisor’s one-time demeaning act

02/12/2009

New supervisors don’t always manage their subordinates as well as more experienced managers. They’re going to make some mistakes along the way. And not every early mistake will mean a winning lawsuit for the subordinate. As the following case shows, it takes more than one stupid move to create a hostile environment.

Hastings offers settlement to cop accused of wrongdoing

02/12/2009

A female police officer who was placed on administrative leave after being accused of writing false traffic-warning citations has received a payout from her employer, the Hastings Police Department.

Document investigation to thwart harasser’s suit

02/05/2009

Sometimes, employers conducting harassment investigations find themselves in no-win situations, especially when there are conflicting claims and classic “he said, she said” scenarios. You risk a lawsuit if you fire the alleged harasser, most likely alleging some other illegal reason for your decision to terminate. The way to win these cases: Thoroughly document the investigation.

You can make disabled comply with dress, behavior standards

02/05/2009

Good news when it comes to disciplining disabled employees for breaking behavioral or dress code rules: You can and should hold the disabled to those rules, along with everyone else.

Elementary school teacher charged with drug offenses

02/02/2009

Williamsport Area School District elementary school teacher Beth Camp faces charges after police seized 72 pounds of marijuana from her Lycoming Township home.