Question: One of our employees seriously injured his hand at work after just a couple of days on the job. Based on the nature of his injury, it seems obvious that he must have committed a safety violation. Can we fire him?
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Question: There’s been a lot of talk in our workplace about the Google engineer who was fired for circulating an anti-diversity memo. What about free speech?
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In a rare case, an unmarried teacher recently won a victory against her employer by applying Oregon’s law protecting individuals from discrimination based on marital status. The teacher worked at a Christian university, which required her to adhere to a certain moral standard. When she revealed that she was pregnant, unmarried, and living with her boyfriend, her employer gave her the options of ending her cohabitation, marrying the father of her child, or losing her job. When she declined the first two options, the university terminated her employment.
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Question: We just got a call from a business that wants to check on a former employee. They faxed a release the former employee signed waiving liability for information we share. Are we safe telling them what a bad employee she was?
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The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently breathed new life into a lawsuit against WinCo Foods, finding enough evidence to suggest sex discrimination against a long-term female supervisor who was fired for sharing a stale cake with her work crew.
Read More…A California Court of Appeals recently upheld an employer’s decision to terminate a senior manager for violating his behavioral contract. The manager had engaged in an affair with a non-management employee. After the relationship ended, the manager obsessively contacted the employee via text messages, calls, and visits to her house and neighborhood even after the police told him to stop. The employee finally reported her fear of him to company security, which prompted an investigation that confirmed the harassing conduct.
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After an employee was terminated from her job as a groundskeeper at a community recreational park, she sued her employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Based primarily on the job duties listed in the employer’s written job description, a federal court agreed that the employee was not able to…
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Question: We just found out our new hire was fired from his last job for bad attendance, after which he sued the company for disability discrimination. We’re worried he’s not a fit. Can we revoke the conditional job offer?
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Q: We recently had to terminate a remote employee and he has refused to return his laptop. Can we take the cost of the laptop out of his final paycheck?
Read More…Question: One of our employees is elderly, and he is currently out on medical leave for surgery. He has had performance issues, but we haven’t written him up for it. He’s an at-will employee, so can I demote him or eliminate his position because of his performance issues? He didn’t completely fill out his medical certification, so is he even entitled to take medical leave?