Category: Discipline and Discharge

Quirky Question # 194: Firing the Abusive Manager

Quirky Question # 194: Firing the Abusive Manager

Question: One of our managers is known for being very “tough.”  None of the employees he supervises has filed a complaint against him, either internally or externally, but rumors of borderline abusive behavior kept reaching our executive suite.  As a result, we investigated.  The rumors were well grounded factually – the guy was much rougher on employees than we realized. ...

Quirky Question # 180: Terminating Sales Reps — Traps for the Unwary

Quirky Question # 180: Terminating Sales Reps — Traps for the Unwary

Question: We are a national company. We sell products through a network of sales representatives. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they aren’t. When they aren’t, we fire them and move on. Recently, we learned that dumping underperforming sales representatives in Minnesota may not be so easy. Can you enlighten us? Is this regulated by statute?

“Cat’s Paw Theory Endorsed by U.S. Supreme Court” — Staub v. Proctor Hospital

“Cat’s Paw Theory Endorsed by U.S. Supreme Court” — Staub v. Proctor Hospital

On March 1, 2011, the Supreme Court decided the case of Staub v. Proctor Hospital, No. 09-400.  The decision was unanimous (8-0), with Justice Scalia writing the Court’s opinion, Justice Alito writing a concurrence in which Justice Thomas joined, and Justice Kagan taking no part in the case.  The Court overturned the Seventh Circuit, holding that a reasonable jury could...

Quirky Question # 168 — Is Describing a C-Level Executive’s Discharge as “For Cause” Defamatory?

Quirky Question # 168 — Is Describing a C-Level Executive’s Discharge as “For Cause” Defamatory?

Question: I saw your last question about discharging an executive for cause. We recently terminated a C-level executive for that reason.  His contract delineated four different “cause” grounds and we felt that two were implicated, although one of these ground arguably was iffy.  We’re wondering whom we can tell about this decision.  Are there any risks associated with publicizing this...

Quirky Question # 167; Who Has the Burden of Proof When Terminating an Executive For Cause?

Quirky Question # 167; Who Has the Burden of Proof When Terminating an Executive For Cause?

Question: Our company is considering terminating a C-level executive for cause pursuant to a provision in his employment agreement. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who is an attorney and she said the company will be obligated to prove our actions were justified. This does not make sense to me. I thought that, like nearly all plaintiffs, if...

Quirky Question # 160: Non-Competes and Public Policy

Quirky Question # 160: Non-Competes and Public Policy

Question: We are a nationwide company with offices and employees in nearly every state. One of our primary growth areas is California. We understand that California courts are generally inhospitable to post-employment restrictive covenants, including non-competes. But, we are trying to have uniform policies throughout our organization. Consequently, we still have confidentiality and non-compete language in our employees’ contracts, even...

Quirky Question # 156, Resignation for Good Reason

Quirky Question # 156, Resignation for Good Reason

Quirky Question # 156 One of our key executives recently resigned. Under the terms of his contract, he had the right to resign for “good reason.” He claimed that due to certain financial restructuring our company underwent, his job was going to change significantly. Even if his supposition was correct, didn’t he have to wait until these events played out?...

Bawdy Behavior Outside of Work, Quirky Question # 151

Bawdy Behavior Outside of Work, Quirky Question # 151

Quirky Question #151 We have several employees who periodically engage in somewhat bawdy behavior outside of work. (Surprise, surprise, sometimes alcohol is involved.) We don’t believe this behavior is consistent with the image our company would like to project. Can we discipline these employees for their conduct (which invariably is reported back to us)? Can we fire them?

Firing Convicted Sex Offender, Quirky Question # 148

Firing Convicted Sex Offender, Quirky Question # 148

Here’s a question that you may have addressed in the past. Unfortunately, the situation arises periodically and we’re still not sure how to handle it.

We recently learned that one of our employees is a convicted sex offender and is registered with a state agency as such. We want to terminate his employment. Will we be risking liability if we do so?