In yesterday’s Advisor, we heard from Hunter "Please Sue Me" Lott on wage-and-hour issues. Today, his take on avoiding termination-based lawsuits, and an introduction to the extraordinary all-in-one HR website, HR.BLR.com.
Lott, an HR practitioner dedicated to the "rights of management," is known for his entertaining yet informative approach. His remarks came during his annual "Please Sue Me" session at the Society for Human Resource Management Conference and Exposition held recently in San Diego.
Whose Side Are You On?
One of Lott’s favorite questions is: "Whose side are you on—the "people’s"? He says, if you hear someone say they are on the people’s side, run. "The job of HR is to help every manager at every level reach her/his goals and objectives through … harmony … productivity … and compliance."
Termination Questionnaire
Firing is a difficult time for everyone. Obviously, the fired employee doesn’t like it, but neither do managers. They put it off and then want to rush. Here’s the list of questions that Lott recommends asking to keep everyone in check and avoid a hasty termination:
__Was a specific policy violated and does the violation warrant termination?
__Show me the policy!
__Have other employees been held accountable to the same policy?
__Can you prove the employee knew of the policy?
__Do you have confirmation that the employee did indeed violate the policy?
__How did the employee react when confronted with the violation?
__Has the employee complained of harassment or unfair treatment?
__Has the employee recently filed a workers’ compensation claim?
__Is the employee about to vest in certain benefits or involved in union activities?
__Has the employee returned from, or applied for, military/medical leave?
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__Has the employee recently complained of company wrongdoing or a safety issue?
__Are there any current grievances or complaints pending?
__Were any promises made verbally, or in writing, to this employee by senior management?
__Were any requested accommodations denied to this employee?
__Is there evidence of discrimination based on age, sex, race, religion, national origin, disability or any other legally protected characteristic?
If the answers to any of these questions suggests there might be a problem, delay termination.
To evaluate your termination procedures, Lott suggests the following: Pull the last three terminations and check documentation. Were docs signed or initialed or witnessed by employees and management? Would you be willing to go on “60 Minutes” and defend your actions?
Terminations: They’re always a challenge for any HR manager. Of course, terminations are just one of what, a couple of dozen recurring HR challenges? What about new COBRA rules, FMLA intermittent leave, overtime, ADA accommodation, and sexual harassment, to name just a few?
You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything HR in one website,” HR.BLR.com. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:
Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.
E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.
Solicitation. In line with our general nonsolicitation policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.
We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analysis of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)
Find out what the buzz is all about. Take a no-cost look at HR.BLR.com, solve your top problem, and get a complimentary gift.
You can examine the entire HR.BLR.com program free of any cost or commitment. It’s quite remarkable—30 years of accumulated HR knowledge, tools, and skills gathered in one place and accessible at the click of a mouse.
What’s more, we’ll supply a free downloadable copy of our special report, Critical HR Recordkeeping—From Hiring to Termination, just for looking at HR.BLR.com. If you’d like to try it at absolutely no cost or obligation to continue (and get the special report, no matter what you decide), go here.