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Firing

Special work arrangement? Ensure worker’s at-will status

12/21/2011
Occasionally, you may decide to create alternative work arrangements based on written agreements. How you do that is crucial to retaining at-will status.

Asthmatic fired after creating his own accommodation

12/20/2011
Whenever an employee reveals a disability, employers must explore reasonable accommodations. The EEOC clearly doesn’t consider it reasonable to send an employee home and then fire him, as the following case shows.

Medical device manufacturer faces religious bias suit

12/20/2011

The EEOC has filed suit against Medi­­cal Specialties Inc., alleging it discriminated against Evelyn Lock­­­­­­hart because of her religion. She is a member of a Christian denomination whose practitioners are forbidden to work on certain days.

OK to fire for insubordination, even if employee has filed discrimination complaint

12/20/2011
Employees who intentionally don’t follow directions are in­­sub­­ordinate. That means you can fire them—even if they recently filed discrimination charges. Just be sure you can justify your action.

Take every suit seriously–even those in which employee is acting as her own lawyer

12/20/2011
Smart employers never ignore lawsuit filings—even if the allegations sound ridiculous and they’re coming from someone who is acting as her own lawyer.

Problems surface during FMLA leave? Fire away!

12/20/2011

Sometimes, you won’t find out about an employee’s mistakes until she’s not there to cover them up. If an employee went on vacation and you then discovered she was stealing, you wouldn’t hesitate to fire her, right? That shouldn’t change just because her absence was due to an illness.

Berkeley schools settle religious pilgrim’s bias suit

12/19/2011
Berkeley School District 87 in Chi­­cago’s western suburbs has settled a controversial religious discrimination complaint filed by a Muslim teacher who sought unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Have manager who hired also do the firing

12/19/2011
The same individual who hired an employee should also fire that em­­­ployee if necessary. Courts typically reason that no prejudiced person would hire someone and then later fire him because of discrimination, having known all along about the employee’s protected characteristics.

Simply failing to find work doesn’t prove defamation

12/16/2011
When employees are fired, they may have a hard time getting another job. Sometimes, they suspect their former employer is providing a bad reference. And often, a defamation lawsuit will follow.

SoCal hotel steps up after firing autistic employee

12/16/2011
The EEOC and the Comfort Suites Hotel in Mission Valley have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of an autistic desk clerk who sought state assistance to perform his job but was fired instead. It’s a case that shows how the threat of litigation can sometimes result in greater good.