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Terminations

Must we offer severance pay?

04/19/2010
Q. Because of a downturn in our business, we are thinking of eliminating a position. Are we required to offer severance pay to the terminated employee?

Use new EEOC guidance to review severance agreements

04/19/2010
Employers have a new primer from the EEOC on how to craft legally compliant severance agreements. Although Understanding Waivers of Discrimination Claims in Employee Severance Agreements was designed to answer employee questions about severance agreements, it offers useful guidance to employers, too.

White Way says EEOC took it to the cleaners

04/19/2010

St. Paul-based White Way Dry Cleaners has paid $42,250 to a former employee who filed an EEOC pregnancy discrimination lawsuit. The case arose when Michelle Johnson was transferred from her job pressing clothes to a counter position after telling her bosses she was pregnant. White Way had a longstanding policy of transferring pregnant employees to protect them from chemicals used in the dry cleaning process.

Make sure employees know where and how to report alleged sexual harassment

04/19/2010

It’s simply impossible to prevent all sexual harassment incidents. But you can take steps to protect your organization from most sexual harassment lawsuits. Make sure your sexual harassment reporting policy is clear, specific and well publicized.

You don’t have to put up with insubordination

04/19/2010

Some employees think they can behave like jerks at work without any consequences—as long as they don’t harass co-workers. You don’t have to put up with that kind of nonsense. Instead, institute clear rules against such behavior. Put them in your employee handbook. Then enforce those rules—up to and including firing those who just won’t change their ways.

When former employees poach more of your all-stars, fight back in court

04/19/2010
There’s hope for employers victimized by competitors who attempt to poach corporate all-stars. If some other organization tries to unethically steal your best employees, you may have a remedy—even if you haven’t made employees sign noncompete agreements (which aren’t usually enforceable in California anyway).

‘Hey, I thought Mike was going to retire last year’

04/16/2010
Be cautious about asking employees about their retirement plans. Employees who are fired soon after disclosing their retirement thoughts have brought successful age bias claims in court.

Facing RIF, employees must show initiative

04/15/2010
Workers who lose their jobs in a reduction in force may look at those who were retained and conclude there had to be a discriminatory reason for their misfortune. But before they can successfully sue, employees must show some degree of initiative before they can claim discrimination. An employee who never applies for an open position or who doesn’t actively ask about available jobs isn’t going to win a lawsuit.

Doc’s note can sometimes work in your favor

04/15/2010

At some point in your HR career, you’ll run into a trainwreck of an employee with problems that just seem to escalate. It may start with a small injury and a workers’ comp claim. That can turn into a dispute over alleged harassment and retaliation. Eventually, she may even claim she has developed deep psychological scars … If she says she can’t work and has a doctor who supports her, you may be able to use the medical assessment to your benefit.

Include an extension clause in your noncompete agreements

04/15/2010
In the wake of a recent Illinois court decision in Citadel Investment Group, LLC v. Teza Technologies LLC, employers should rethink their noncompete agreements. Without fine tuning, these contracts may not work as well as they could.