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  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
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Terminations

Can we search employees? We suspect theft

04/02/2009

Q. We have noticed some of our inventory is missing, and we believe it might be leaving our facility via our employees. Can we search them and their belongings?

Static over dryer sheets comes out in the wash

03/31/2009

Fourteen employees of a Costco store in Hackensack took recycling a bit too far when they started reusing customer coupons for free fabric softener and dryer sheets. The employees wound up paying a high price for their “free” loot. When investigators brought the matter to the attention of store manager Sami Nasr, he fired all 14 employees.

TARP provisions force banks to rescind job offers

03/31/2009

Chalk it up to the rule of unanticipated consequences: Banks that took federal bailout money are rescinding job offers to foreign-born MBAs. No, it’s not discrimination based on foreign origin. Rather, it’s one of the strings attached to billions in TARP funds.

Does North Carolina have a mini-COBRA law?

03/30/2009

Q. Our company employs fewer than 20 employees, so federal COBRA does not apply to us. Is there a state law that allows continued health care coverage following termination of employment?

Is there a state health continuation subsidy?

03/30/2009

Q. Is North Carolina providing a subsidy for health care continuation for employers with fewer than 20 employees similar to the federal subsidy contained in the new economic stimulus law?

Set clear rules for initial employment period

03/30/2009

Sometimes, it’s obvious early on that a new employee isn’t working out. Firing such an employee won’t cause legal trouble as long as you based the call on previously set performance standards, job-related testing or some other impartial evaluation process.

Court upholds WaMu’s arbitration agreement

03/30/2009

According to her complaint, former Washington Mutual Bank assistant branch manager Michelle Williams was fired after she made an “anonymous” call to a company hotline with concerns about a co-worker’s immigration status …

Spell out FMLA intermittent leave timing in handbook—or risk a million-dollar mistake

03/30/2009

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a verdict of more than $1 million in an FMLA intermittent leave case involving a foreign adoption. The sad fact is that the employer could have avoided the entire problem by studying up on intermittent leave and adoption.

Shopper’s Vineyard settles race discrimination suit

03/30/2009

The Shopper’s Vineyard wine superstore in Clifton has agreed to settle a race discrimination case after the EEOC filed suit on behalf of a black front-line manager who was terminated during an alleged downsizing.

May we supplement unemployment comp benefits for temporarily laid-off workers?

03/30/2009

Q. We need to temporarily lay off some employees. It will be hard for them to make it on the amount of unemployment benefits. Can we supplement their unemployment benefits without interfering with the unemployment benefits?