Why do some employees sue after being fired? It’s not just luck. Simple employer mistakes can lead to costly results. How an employee is treated at termination can determine whether or not he or she will sue. Focus on the “how” as much as the “what.”
But Managers can make other fundamental mistakes with appraisals as well, they include:
While firing people on TV seems to be fairly easy, terminating somebody for real can be one of the most difficult things a manager has to do. Firing an employee is never easy but a few simple things can make it go more smoothly while at the same time help to shield your organization from potential legal action.
There are at least two very critical overriding issues in a termination:
The termination process should include:
Occupational fraud might be more common than many HR professionals suspect, and some experts argue that the economic downturn might be leading more people to commit fraud because they are facing mounting financial pressure on the home front.
U.S. organizations lose an estimated 7% of revenues to fraud each year, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) 2008 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse. The largest cases occurred in manufacturing, banking and insurance, respectively. The median loss was $175,000, researchers found.
Embezzlement takes many forms, such as stealing cash or diverting resources to pay personal expenses and then trying to hide them as legitimate vendor payments, noted Hubert Klein, a partner at Amper, Politziner & Mattia in Hackensack, NJ.
People in every industry have the capacity to commit fraud, but, according to the ACFE, those in accounting and upper management are most likely to do so. Most are first-time offenders: Only 7% of those caught had prior convictions, and just 12% had been terminated previously by an employer for fraud-related conduct, the researchers found.
Adopt internal controls, a monitoring program and a formal process for investigating anomalies to reduce the risk of fraud. Other recommendations include consulting with an attorney(s) and accountants to set up best practices internal audits and review the organizational structure and controls to make sure employees “aren’t using their expense accounts to pilfer.” Also watch for jobs with troublesome overlapping responsibilities, such as where one person is responsible for paying bills and reconciling bank statements.
Source: HR Magazine, Pamela Babcock, 2/2010, pg 14
Employers who handle terminations without a plan or appropriate procedures in place are assuming considerable risk. The goal should be to establish termination procedures that are consistent, well documented and keep subjective actions to a minimum. Good basic Human Resource practices are the key, including:
Many people do it, some do it daily – communicating to thousands, or indirectly millions, of people electronically about their daily gripes and complaints on their Facebook page. As a social networking website, Facebook allows users to connect with old friends, post photos and enter daily thoughts, opinions and musings on their “wall”.
When we’re frustrated about our job, it can help to blow off steam and verbalize all those things we wish we could say at the office. After all, when we’re on our own time, we can say whatever we want, right?
Not so fast. The prevalence of social-networking sites and other electronic communications are blurring the line between private and public communication. Sometimes a gripe that we feel is a private, personal opinion becomes a public slam if enough people access it. And that is catching employers’ attention.
An employee of the Philadelphia Eagles recently got a lot of attention after he was fired for criticizing his employer on his Facebook page. The gate worker at the team’s stadium posted an angry, expletive-laced complaint about the team’s failure to re-sign safety Brian Dawkins. Management found out and fired him for making the team look bad.
A word to all disgruntled Facebookers – think twice before you click that post button.
Source: FOXNews
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