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Terminations

Former exec sues over missed severance payment

05/14/2010

Tim Murnane left real estate development firm Opus Northwest in June 2009 after negotiating a $2 million severance package to be paid out over 10 years. Murnane took a new position with St. Louis-based Clayco Inc., another developer in the Twin Cities area. All was going well until March, when a scheduled $79,266 payment from Opus failed to arrive in Murnane’s mailbox …

Watch out when offering early retirement based on age

05/14/2010
The EEOC has won the first round of a battle against early-retirement incentive plans that are based strictly on age. If you have such a plan, make sure you review its legal status with your attorney.

Stick with termination decision–and don’t hint that you’re open to reconsidering

05/14/2010
Once you’ve made the tough decision to terminate an employee, stick to it. If you let the employee talk you into reconsidering, you may end up with a lawsuit over whether a contract had been created.

Never consider insurance costs when terminating

05/14/2010

Every year, employers face yet another increase in their health insurance premiums. And if there are many older or sick employees, those costs will keep on rising. Even adding one sick child to the list can drive costs into the stratosphere. But before you even consider firing (or refusing to hire) someone because they might jack up insurance costs, count your dollars, not your pennies. You might be staring down a lawsuit that could dwarf whatever premium costs you hoped to avoid.

Can laid-off, injured worker collect workers’ comp benefits?

05/11/2010
Q. We had to lay off an injured worker for economic reasons. He has not attempted to work for a year since that layoff. Will he be entitled to temporary benefits under the Florida Workers’ Compensation Act?

Former USF football coach sues university over firing

05/11/2010
Former University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt has sued the university and its foundation, claiming his contract was improperly terminated. Leavitt lost his job last January after allegedly grabbing a football player by the throat and hitting him.

Firing after delivery can still be pregnancy discrimination

05/11/2010
Here’s an employer argument that didn’t work: It couldn’t have been pregnancy discrimination when we fired her because she wasn’t pregnant anymore.

Feel free to discipline or fire if it’s warranted — regardless of employee’s FMLA status

05/11/2010

Thanks to a recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, it’s now clear that Florida employers can terminate employees who have FMLA leave coming—if they can prove they would have terminated the employee anyway. To prove that, you must be able to produce solid documentation showing that you were indeed going to terminate the employee whether or not she asked for FMLA leave.

When competition might come from within, keep employees honest

05/11/2010
It’s a situation that happens more often than you might think: An employer finds out that one of its employees is preparing to leave and set up her own shop. But is the employer handcuffed, unable to do anything about the upstart competitor because this employee didn’t sign a noncompetition agreement?

Choose one when suing: bias or wrongful termination

05/11/2010
Good news for employers: When an Ohio employee sues for alleged discrimination under state, federal or local anti-discrimination laws, he can’t also add claims that he was wrongly terminated in violation of public policy. The other laws are his sole remedy.