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Firing

Termination by phone: legal but unwise

07/24/2008

Q. We have an employee who has been working from home. We’ve decided we really need someone in the office. Can we terminate her by phone? Or do we have to call her into the office? …

Pregnancy discrimination law covers women who’ve had abortions

07/24/2008

By now you know that employers can’t fire or otherwise punish employees because they’re pregnant. But what about employees who choose to have an abortion? Make sure your supervisors know it’s illegal to discriminate against them, too.

Time for a snap inspection: Make sure bulletin boards don’t show signs of bias

07/22/2008
If you want to make sure all managers and supervisors are playing by the nondiscrimination and no harassment rules, get out of the office and onto the shop floor. Someone from HR must visit each and every work location regularly—but unannounced …

Lilly settles retaliation suit

07/22/2008
Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to pay $64,400 to a former employee who claimed the company withheld severance pay to pressure her to withdraw a discrimination complaint …

Tell managers: Don’t retaliate against those who complain

07/21/2008
One of the easiest ways to land the company in legal hot water is for a manager to punish someone who complains that she’s being discriminated against. It may turn out—and it often does—that no discrimination took place. Yet even in those cases, some supervisors can’t resist punishing the messenger, thereby turning a minor matter into a major retaliation case …

Hold onto those notes! Even accidental destruction can mean trouble

07/21/2008
You know it’s crucial to document all disciplinary actions. No doubt, you’ve told managers and supervisors to keep all notes, memos and other paperwork. Those records could be invaluable later if you ever need to show that all your disciplinary decisions were based on good business judgment, performance and other legitimate and relevant reasons …

Air conditioning: mandatory accommodation?

07/21/2008
Charles Gribben, a UPS driver in Phoenix, was told by his doctor to operate only trucks with air conditioning. But UPS, finding it couldn’t accommodate Gribben’s disability, terminated him. Gribben sued UPS under the ADA …

Employee in the hot seat loses claim he was falsely imprisoned

07/21/2008
Zachary Shannon began working for OfficeMax in January 2006. When the company hired him, Shannon signed a standard agreement that he would not photocopy pornographic materials. On Jan. 14, an employee found pornographic photocopies on one of the store’s copiers …

Employer liability for defamation claims based on a reference

07/21/2008
Q. Our company constantly receives calls from prospective employers requesting references for our former employees. Recently, one of our receptionists told an inquiring employer that a former employee was terminated for falsifying his expense reports. The former employee now has threatened to file a lawsuit against us for defamation. Do we have any exposure? …

Patience, paperwork: The right way to fire serial complainers

07/18/2008
Sometimes, employees who are having performance problems think that filing discrimination complaints will help protect their jobs. Word has gotten around that employees can win retaliation cases even if the discrimination claims they make are flimsy. But employers won’t lose a retaliation case if they can show that the employee really did deserve the discipline that followed the discrimination complaint …