Firing employee - Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP

14 Aug, 2012

What Do Your Ex-Employees Say About Your Company?

Craig Martin2012-08-14T08:00:35-05:00August 14th, 2012|Firing employee|

Terminated employees say the most interesting things. And, given the fallout over the Duke Energy and Progress merger/termination of theCEO of the new company, it doesn’t appear to matter at what the level the employee worked. As many of you may know, Duke Energy and Progress, two North Carolina energy companies, merged after receiving approval from state and federal regulators. One part of the approval process was an assurance from Duke Energy [...]

15 Dec, 2011

Employees—What Are They Complaining About?

Craig Martin2011-12-15T17:57:17-06:00December 15th, 2011|Firing employee, Nebraska Construction, Retaliation, Termination|

I read an interesting article in the Engineering News Record (“ENR”) about employee whistle blower complaints and a flawed safety culture in a radioactive waste recyclying plant . Here is a link to the article. This article serves as a reminder of the importance of properly documenting and investigating employee complaints. The article discusses an employee’s complaint that he was removed from a facility for raising safety concerns and the snowball [...]

6 Oct, 2011

Severance Agreements – Worth Their Weight in Gold

Craig Martin2011-10-06T15:32:34-05:00October 6th, 2011|Employee, Firing employee|

I have had a number of clients call me in the last few weeks to discuss severance agreements. I think they are worth their weight in gold for any number of reasons. But, the primary reason is that they bring finality to an employee’s departure. A severance agreement is an agreement between the employer and the soon to be ex-employee through which the employee waives any and all claims against [...]

9 Sep, 2011

Facebook Posts May Be Protected Speech

Craig Martin2011-09-09T11:36:34-05:00September 9th, 2011|Concerted Activity, Employee, Firing employee, Limit Liability, NLRA|

Well, it finally happened--a judge has ruled that an employee cannot be fired for Facebook posts. In this case, several employees posted comments about another employee, staffing levels and working conditions. The employee who was the target of the posts complained to management, and within a few days, all five employee posters were fired. The employees sued, asserting that they were engaged in protected activity under the National Labor Relations [...]

5 Sep, 2011

How Are You Documenting Employee Terminations

Craig Martin2011-09-05T08:24:20-05:00September 5th, 2011|Employee, Firing employee, Retaliation, Termination|

Much as documentation is important in construction projects, it is equally important in employee terminations. When you are considering terminating an employee, you should make sure you have all of your supporting documentation before the actual termination, instead of cobbling together the documentation several months afterwards. As many of you have experienced, an employee disappointed with his or her termination, does not have to sue immediately. The ex-employee often times [...]