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Terminations

Employees win right to sue for employer post-Employment conduct

08/25/2008
Employers that think their liability ends when a terminated employee walks out the door better think again. A recent New Jersey case expanded employees’ rights to sue employers for post-termination nonemployment-related conduct. In the wake of the decision, courts may construe common employer acts as retaliation …

Child porn from lawmaker’s PC leads to quick resignation

08/25/2008
Just a week after child pornography was found on his office computer, State Assemblyman Neil Cohen turned in a one-sentence resignation letter. A General Assembly staffer allegedly found a photo of a naked girl in Cohen’s Union Township office …

Violating any work rule can be just cause for termination

08/22/2008
Under N.C. General Statute § 126-35, North Carolina state government employees can be discharged only for “just cause,” a term the statute doesn’t clearly define. The vague language can make it difficult to terminate a state employee. But that’s not the case if a state agency has a clear set of rules, can show the employee knew about those rules and broke them anyway …

Longtime hospital worker sues to keep her job

08/22/2008
You’ve got to give points for stamina, no matter the outcome, to 83-year-old Annie Allen, a part-time worker for more than 35 years at John Umstead Hospital in Butner. She’s fighting for her job after being fired earlier this year …

Former N.C. health plan official says firing was unjust

08/22/2008
George Stokes, former chief executive of North Carolina’s state employee health insurance plan, claims he was unlawfully fired and that lawmakers spread inaccurate information while ousting him …

State worker resigns over Helms flag flap

08/22/2008
The manager of the North Carolina state government’s standards laboratory created a stir in July when he ordered his department not to fly its flags at half-staff in honor of the memory of U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms …

Judge: ‘Language and national origin not interchangeable’

08/22/2008
Lucas Lopez-Galvan, a native of the Dominican Republic, was hired in June 2005 as a tailor in a Men’s Wearhouse store in Charlotte. Regional tailor Nitin Bulsara, who is fluent in Spanish, hired Lopez despite the fact that Lopez does not speak English.

Can we require repayment of moving expenses if a new employee quits?

08/22/2008
Q. Our company plans to hire a manager who will move to North Carolina from out of state. We will pay her moving expenses. Can we recoup those payments if she quits after moving here? …

Is it permissible to recover education reimbursements from final paychecks?

08/22/2008
Q. Our company has a program that reimburses employees for work-related educational programs. However, if the employee leaves the company within one year of the reimbursement payment, the employee must repay the company. Can we take this repayment out of the employee’s final paycheck? …

The 6 kinds of terminations … and how to avoid lawsuits for each one

08/21/2008
Terminations are the spark to many employment lawsuits. And for each of the six kinds, there are some common steps employers can take to make sure they defend themselves if the termination is challenged in court …