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Terminations

Good news: The clock eventually runs out on negligent hiring after you’ve fired worker

05/15/2009

You probably know that employers can and are sometimes held liable if their employees harm customers. That’s especially true if they knew or should have known that the employee might be dangerous. But your potential liability—if you negligently hired an employee in the first place—doesn’t go on indefinitely.

Law firm WARN Act suit gets class-action status

05/15/2009

A federal judge recently certified two classes of workers in a suit accusing the law firm Thelen, LLP, of firing them without notice. Also certified were three subclasses of workers alleging that the defunct law firm failed to compensate them for vacation time.

Retaliation threat ends when employment does

05/15/2009

Employees who blow the whistle on their employers’ alleged illegal actions are protected from retaliation. But that protection has important limits. One of those is that the retaliation must take place while the employee is still working for the employer.

You can discharge if there’s no way to tell when employee will return to work

05/13/2009

Employers don’t have to provide a disabled employee with an indefinite leave of absence when the employee has a medical emergency and doesn’t know how long it will take to return. As long as the employee isn’t covered by the FMLA (in which case, she is entitled to 12 unpaid weeks of leave), you can terminate the employee without violating the ADA.

Can we terminate an H-1B immigrant?

05/13/2009

Q. We are sponsoring an immigrant worker on an H-1B visa. Because of performance issues, we would like to terminate his employment. Can we do this?

Avoid shifting explanations for termination

05/13/2009

One of the worst things you can do after you terminate an employee is change the reason for ending the employment relationship. Instead, decide on a defensible rationale—a performance problem or rule violation, for example, or perhaps a business downturn—and document that decision and all the supporting evidence.

Firing Guard or Reserve member? Better show you would have taken action despite service

05/13/2009

Members of the military have greater on-the-job protection than many other employees—including the right to return to their former jobs following a period of active-duty service. They also have the right not to be terminated or otherwise punished for being part of the armed services and taking military leave.

Employers: ‘Keep Out!’ Beware overreacting to employees’ Facebook, blog postings

05/12/2009

It’s becoming a common problem: An employer discovers disparaging comments on an employee’s Facebook, MySpace or personal blog. Maybe a post reveals internal company information. Can the employer take disciplinary action? It depends.

Feel free to deny FMLA leave to employee who alters medical certification

05/11/2009

One of the biggest problems with the FMLA has always been the certification process. Until recently, employers weren’t allowed to call a health care provider whose form looked suspicious or whose diagnosis sounded suspect. Now, fortunately, employers can at least call the medical provider to ask whether the information on the form is accurate and get clarification on any unclear parts.

After ARRA, how to handle gross misconduct and COBRA coverage

05/11/2009

In light of the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, employers have begun re-examining the cases of some employees who were involuntarily discharged for misconduct. The purpose? To determine whether the employees are eligible to receive a 65% subsidy for continuation of health insurance benefits under COBRA.