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Terminations

OK to insist on initial retirement request

02/01/2012
When an employer doesn’t have a set policy on whether an employee can change his mind about retiring, refusing to rescind a retirement request isn’t enough to support a discrimination or retaliation lawsuit.

Employee refuses to follow instructions? Courts won’t second-guess disciplinary decisions

02/01/2012
Courts don’t want to second-guess every employment decision. They leave it up to employers to determine, for example, whether one rule violation is more serious than another. As the following case shows, employers are free to terminate employees who won’t listen.

Fort Worth lumber yard hammered for age bias

01/31/2012
The former general manager of Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber in Fort Worth is suing the company for age discrimination, claiming he was fired at the age of 55 and replaced by a 38-year-old man.

10 unemployment compensation factors that affect payouts

01/31/2012
How much your organization pays for unemployment insurance is based, in part, on how many former employees have successfully filed claims against you. Under­­standing who is eligible for unemployment benefits and who isn’t can go a long way toward keeping insurance rates low.

Documented insubordination can often sink employee’s discrimination lawsuit

01/31/2012

Employees who sue for discrimination have to prove they are members of a protected class, were qualified for the position they held, were terminated or subjected to another adverse action and were treated less favorably than employees outside their protected class. Employers that can show the em­­ployee was insubordinate can quickly win such cases.

You never have to tolerate fights in the workplace

01/27/2012
Violence in the workplace is a harsh reality, but employers must provide a safe work environment. That may mean terminating employees who threaten other employees or get into fights.

Never automatically fire employees just because they exhaust FMLA leave

01/25/2012
Many employers wrongly assume that they can automatically terminate an employee once she used up her 12-week entitlement of FMLA leave. Such a policy could spell trouble.

Need to conduct a layoff? Use same criteria as for hiring

01/25/2012

Sometimes, layoffs are inevitable … and they’re always a legal minefield. Get it wrong and your attorneys’ fees can easily exceed the labor costs you hoped to save. Decide who should go in much the same way you decide who to hire. Look at the jobs that will survive and select the employees who best fit those jobs.

Fired disabled worker receives $40K from American Apparel

01/20/2012
Los Angeles clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel has agreed to settle an ADA lawsuit filed by a former employee who was fired while out on medical leave.

Boss recommends firing minority worker? Check the record for hidden supervisor bias

01/20/2012
Some supervisors may be secretly biased against members of a particular protected class—something that may be hard to tell until it’s too late. And if a bigoted boss decides to get rid of a subordinate by telling HR the employee is a poor per­­former, rubber-stamping that decision can mean losing a discrimination lawsuit.