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Terminations

Take Broad Look for ADA Accommodation

11/01/2001

Q. If we let some employees in a department return to work in a light-duty capacity, can we deny other employees that same option? We need to do this because the department no longer can operate properly with half its staff on medical leave or limited to light duty due to medical conditions. The union contract says that when an employee is eligible for medical leave, six months must pass before we may terminate the employee. —D.W., Illinois

Don’t pull punches; fire when necessary

11/01/2001
The Cook County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department fired Harriet Rizzo when it discovered that she didn’t have a high school diploma as required, and she had lied about it on her job …

Weigh Cost Before Denying Accommodation Request

10/01/2001

Q. An employee we hired a couple weeks ago through a temporary agency (he is on their payroll) has just told us that he is Muslim and can’t work on Fridays. During the interview, he was asked whether anything would prohibit his working a proposed schedule that specifically included Fridays for the next 30 days. He said no, and this is in writing. He did not mention this problem until he had already been working for a week or two. Can we let this guy go? —M.R., South Carolina

Notify staff how you count FMLA year

10/01/2001
Managers at America West warned Penny Bachelder that her attendance was a problem. She had taken lots of time off in the previous two years under the Family and Medical Leave …

Doc’s opinion alone isn’t enough

10/01/2001
Larry Jackson’s doctor cleared him to return to work without restrictions following his triple bypass surgery. His employer, DBM Technologies, initially assigned him …

Close ties with arbitrator can unbind decision

10/01/2001
Prudential fired Alex Montez four months into his job as a senior vice president after it found he had misrepresented something on his job application. But one issue prevented a clean …

Heterosexuals also protected.

10/01/2001
A secretary for the Metropolitan Opera’s stage director filed a discrimination suit, saying her boss subjected her to a hostile environment and fired her because she isn’t a homosexual. The New …

Raise Doesn’t Prove Employee Was Succeeding

10/01/2001

Q. About three months ago, we gave a marginal employee who is pregnant a pay raise in hopes that it would improve her job performance by boosting her morale. Unfortunately, her performance has gone from bad to worse. If we fire her for poor performance, can she successfully argue that the recent raise indicates that she was performing well and that our reason for terminating her was discriminatory? —H.K., Illinois

Scrutinize resumes; layoffs increase lying

10/01/2001

Raise your skepticism a few notches. RÃ?sumÃ? fudging is on the rise again. The so-called Liar’s Index, the percentage of applicants who falsify their educational credentials, has risen steadily …

… and they’re planning to leave

10/01/2001
In a separate survey by Walker Information, only 24 percent of workers say they are committed to their employer and plan to stay for the next two years. The Indiana-based …