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Terminations

Changing company name doesn’t end legal liability

11/28/2011
Businesses come and go, especially during tough economic times. But sometimes companies just change names and corporate status, while essentially remaining the same entity. That doesn’t mean their legal obligations just disappear.

Cupid in the workplace: You can terminate supervisor for lying about personal relationship

11/28/2011
What if you suspect a supervisor/subordinate relationship, but the two people deny it? You probably can’t do anything more than reiterate your workplace rule against it. If it turns out the supervisor lied, you can certainly terminate him or her—both for breaking the rule and then lying about it.

Delete cryptic notes lurking in your HR files

11/28/2011
Before you toss that handwritten note into the employee’s file today, stop for a second and read it. Years from now, will you remember what that chicken-scratch meant? Many lawsuits have turned on one or two words scrawled by a manager or HR pro after employee meetings and conversations.

Document poor attitude, just in case of lawsuit

11/25/2011
Here’s a tip for handling a difficult and argumentative employee. If she tells her supervisors she doesn’t like her job, wants to avoid some tasks and otherwise doesn’t seem interested in progressing, note her lousy attitude.

Can I fire someone I just don’t like?

11/23/2011
Q. I would like to fire an employee who is unpleasant to work with. We simply don’t “click.” Do I have to have cause to terminate him?

Contesting unemployment? Prove misconduct was willful

11/23/2011
Employees fired for willful misconduct aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation. If you terminate someone for breaking a workplace rule, be prepared to prove that the employee knew about the rule and understood it.

Employee eligible for unemployment comp if he quits because hours have dried up

11/23/2011

Employees generally aren’t eligible for unemployment compensation if they leave their jobs voluntarily. On the other hand, employees are eligible if they leave for “compelling and necessitous” reasons. One of those reasons may be a drastic reduction in available work.

Is employee being set up to fail? Beware boss’s criticism of ‘soft’ skills

11/23/2011
Discrimination can creep into the workplace, even if on the surface there’s nothing blatantly offensive going on. There are still supervisors who treat subordinates poorly because of race or some other protected characteristic. That’s why HR should exercise caution before authorizing discipline against an employee who is meeting concrete goals like sales figures, but is being criticized for more general problems.

Tell supervisors: No matter the inconvenience, never interfere with employees’ FMLA rights

11/23/2011
Let’s face it: It makes a manager’s job harder when employees are out on FMLA leave. That’s especially true with intermittent leave. Don’t let those hard feelings turn into an FMLA interference lawsuit. Instead, insist that managers honor approved intermittent leave without hassling the employee.

Institution has last word for state higher-ed whistle-blower

11/18/2011
Good news for public colleges and universities: When staff blow the whistle on alleged wrongdoing and the institution has a sound policy for dealing with such allegations, the employee can’t also take the claim to federal court.