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Layoffs

Downsizing and FMLA leave

10/01/2007

Q. Our company is in the process of going through a reduction in force. One of the positions that has been selected for elimination belongs to an employee on FMLA leave. Can we still eliminate the position? …

Hispanic manager cannot object to diversity report

10/01/2007

Eduardo Padilla, an information technology manager for the North Broward Hospital District, filed a discrimination and retaliation lawsuit alleging he was laid off because he was Hispanic …

University of California settles UC Berkeley coach’s sex-Bias case

10/01/2007

On July 19, the University of California agreed to pay a former UC Berkeley women’s swim coach $3.5 million to settle her gender-discrimination claim. Karen Moe Humphreys, an Olympic gold medalist who was a 26-year employee of the university’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, argued that she was laid off while less qualified males were hired and retained without regard for the university’s seniority system …

Getting along without employee on FMLA leave? Go ahead and terminate

10/01/2007

When an employee goes on FMLA leave, someone has to do the work. What if that someone easily assumes the employee’s duties and does a great job? Can you use that fortuitous realization as the basis for firing the leave-taker when he returns? Perhaps, but there’s a risk. The employee may sue, alleging the real reason he was let go was retaliation for taking leave, and not that you figured out the company could get along just fine without him …

ADEA verdict flies after Boeing’s job offer falls flat

10/01/2007

A former procurement-quality specialist for Boeing Company in Philadelphia does not have to accept reinstatement in lieu of front pay awarded by a jury in an age-discrimination suit, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, has ruled …

Settling strike by paying for missed work may cut unemployment tab

09/01/2007

When it’s time to settle a strike, and that settlement includes paying for some of the time employees missed either because they were on the picket line or you laid them off, be aware of the language you use to describe the payment …

Georgia law requires issuing DOL-800 forms for all separations

09/01/2007

Q. It has always been our practice to issue separation notices only when we involuntarily discharge or lay off an employee, but our new plant manager believes we have to issue them even when an employee resigns voluntarily. What’s the rule? …

Whistle-Blowers held to letter of the law

08/01/2007

The Ohio whistle-blower law protects employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation. But that doesn’t mean employees can add a whistle-blowing claim every time they sue after being discharged …

Threat to blow whistle on banking practices not protected

08/01/2007

An employee does not gain whistle-blower protection merely by threatening that he will go to the authorities …

Retain information on all recent reductions in force

08/01/2007

If your organization has gone through a series of downsizings over the last few years, be sure to keep complete and accurate records …