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North Carolina

OK to consider ambition when selecting who goes, who stays

12/01/2007

If your company’s business strategy includes promotion from within and constant innovation, unambitious employees may serve as poor role models. You may, in fact, want to ease them out in favor of new employees. Before you do, consider ways to light a fire under the feet of complacent employees. Here’s why this is crucial …

No time for WARN notice? You can continue paying instead

12/01/2007

Congress passed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) to give employees time to adjust to an imminent plant shutdown and prepare for unemployment. Covered employers are required to give employees 60 days’ notice before shutting down operations. Good news: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that not giving WARN notice is fine—as long as the company continues to pay …

Workers’ compensation can cover cosmetic surgery for injured employee

12/01/2007

Employees injured while at work are entitled to medical treatment to correct those injuries. It turns out that treatment can include cosmetic surgery …

Paying commission? Get written agreement

12/01/2007

If your organization pays some employees on a commission basis, it may be a good idea to put it in writing. Relying on just an oral agreement may lead to trouble down the road—especially if the employee quits and says you owe him money. Without a written agreement spelling out the commission terms, a lawsuit probably will come down to his word against yours …

Smithfield Foods gets tough with union, files RICO suit

12/01/2007

Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc. has filed suit against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), alleging it waged a two-year campaign of extortion to force the company to unionize its hog slaughterhouse in Tar Heel …

$20,000 ends Wal-Mart hair salon discrimination suit

12/01/2007

SmartStyle Family Hair Salon has paid $20,000 plus additional relief to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC …

Blackwater employees gain immunity for Baghdad shootings

12/01/2007

The U.S. State Department granted immunity from prosecution to Blackwater USA bodyguards involved in the September shootings that killed 17 Iraqi civilians. The immunity deal delayed a criminal inquiry into the events and will make it difficult to prosecute the security contractors …

Did Clearmore Construction clear more than it earned?

12/01/2007

Construction company owner Paul Garrett, of Warne in western North Carolina, has been charged with conspiring to defraud Alabama Power Company (APCO) of $250,000 …

FMLA claims just got tougher for employers

11/01/2007

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided that waiving employers’ past violations of the FMLA requires approval from a court or the U.S. Labor Department. That gives employees a leg up if they sue their employers for violating the FMLA. At the heart of the case is an FMLA regulation that states, “Employees cannot waive their rights under FMLA” …

You can hold supervisors to higher standards than others

11/01/2007

You don’t have to treat supervisors the same as other employees if they break the rules. As the following case shows, supervisors who get into physical fights with subordinates can and should be fired—even if you simply discipline co-workers who get into similar confrontations at work …