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Majority of the states follow at-will employment where an employee may be terminated at any time without any reason. However, there are certain federal and state laws regarding discrimination, whistle-blowing and layoff notices that need to be adhered to. At times, the termination may be unfair, but not illegal. Therefore, one needs to be aware of what is unfair and what is illegal. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding layoff laws: Should an employee be given a notice, prior to termination, if he/she was employed in the state of Florida?
Florida is an at-will employment state where employment may be terminated at any point of time without any reason being provided. However, employment should not be terminated due to discrimination (based on race, sex, gender, protected class, etc.), breach of a written agreement (employment contract, union agreement, etc.) or if any commitment is given by the employer regarding job security. The employer may also make alterations to the terms of employment, job description or working conditions. An employee had suffered a back injury and had to undergo a surgery. This did not let the employee work the regular hours and was terminated last week. The employee is getting severance till next week. Can the employee file for disability as he/she is unable to work?
One (employer or employee) generally pays for a long term disability policy when working. Once the employee is no longer employed, the policy may cease to exist and no claims may be made. However, one may be eligible to receive Social Security Disability. To avail this benefit, one needs to approach the Social Security Administration (SSA). It would be useful to hire the services of lawyer who specializes in filing for disability claims. In the event of the employer’s disability policy being active, one should file a claim before the policy expires. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSD) takes a while to process, and it does pay monthly. Can an employer refuse to pay severance if a consultant was hired in place of an employee who was terminated?
The employee may have been terminated to bring down the headcount in the organization. This information may be available with the U.S. Department of Labor. However, the employee may be required to hire an attorney to bring the issue of wrongful dismissal to a close. The attorney may assist in mediating or arbitrating if the employee does not wish to file a petition. Further, the employment litigator would verify if one may go ahead with claim or if it is better to drop it. If one decides to go ahead with the claim; then one may request that the issue be resolved through arbitration. Organizations generally work out a solution only in case of a litigation threat. Consider a situation where an employee in the state of Pennsylvania did not use any of the leaves for the whole of the previous year. He/she did this so that he/she could go on a vacation. However, in the meantime the employee got fired and the company informed him/her that the vacation time ceases to exist in case of the employee being fired. What can the employee do now?
Pennsylvania does not have a specific law that would state that a vacation pay must be given to the employees if terminated. It is left to the company’s discretion to either grant the vacation pay to the employee at termination or not to pay it. Every company may formulate their own policies regarding vacation pay. The only thing that the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry can enforce regarding vacation pay is the company policy on vacation pay. In addition, there is no federal law that would require companies to pay accrued vacation time at termination. Unless the policy about not collecting for earned vacation only applies to terminations for cause and the employee was not so terminated, the employee may not have any legal recourse against the company. What can a company do to terminate an 80-year-old without getting caught up in age discrimination?
If the performance of this employee is not up to the mark; then the employer must maintain a written record. The record should contain details such as when the employee was informed about the performance being poor, why is it being considered poor, what the employee should do to get the performance up to par, etc. The employee should be provided a reasonable time frame (maybe 3 months) to improve and the performance should be monitored and effective feedback provided every month. Even after the 3 month period if the employee has not improved the performance to match the requirements of the job, he/she may be terminated. This termination would be based on performance and not based on age. It is also possible that the employee is offered severance package which includes an agreement mentioning that the employee will not file a suit against the employer for discrimination in exchange for a lump sum payment by the employer. The severance pay should be a considerable amount that may be enforceable by the court. An employee was fired from a job that was paying hourly wage. Due to this the employee was getting unemployment. However, the company has asked the employee to re-join work at a lower pay and at reduced hours. The employee does not know what to do as he/she would lose unemployment if he/she refuses to re-join work.
For one to be eligible to receive unemployment; he/she should accept to re-join work if the employer offers it. This is one of the important aspects for one to receive unemployment. Therefore, it would be wise to re-join work though it is at a lower pay and at reduced hours. In the event that the employer informs unemployment that the employee is not willing to re-join; the unemployment benefits would cease. One may perceive it to be unfair, but it is not illegal. Without the employee’s knowledge, the employer may be paying for the unemployment of the employee. In such an instance it is but natural for an employer to feel that the employee might as well do some work for them when they are already paying the employee’s unemployment. To safeguard the interests of employees who have been terminated; there are many federal and state laws. If the employee has been successful in suing a company, he/she may be eligible for back pay, damages, and attorneys’ fees. Tax returns may be thoroughly checked is one claims lost income. To know your rights and to safeguard your legal interests, it is always best to ask an employment lawyer for answers.
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