Our HR Professionals provide support for thousands of terminations throughout the year, most of which involve typical “run-of-the-mill” offenses. Surprisingly, there are always a handful of cases where the employee’s conduct shocks us, and we’re left wondering how someone could actually act that way at work. Click here to read about the top five shockers from 2018..*

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Henry has worked for your company for over a decade and, until recently, has been a good performer. However, over the past six months, Henry’s performance has started to slide.

You have talked to Henry about your observations with his performance on several occasions, but you did not document any of these conversations. During your conversations, Henry admitted that his performance has slipped and that he has been making several mistakes. Each time, Henry promises he will improve, but he hasn’t shown any improvement.

Last week, Henry asked for a few days off to attend a convention for his church. While he was out, you discovered he had failed to complete a project by the deadline, negatively impacting a customer.

Based on his decline in performance and the recently discovered error, you decide to terminate Henry.

Yesterday, you were shocked when you received a charge from the EEOC claiming discrimination based on religion. You didn’t fire Henry because of his religion. Henry was fired because he wasn’t doing his job.

You tried to explain that to the EEOC. Likely, the EEOC responded:

1. They completely understood. Once you explained the course of events, they could understand why Henry needed to be terminated and dismissed the charge.
2. They asked you and Henry’s supervisor a lot of questions. It seemed like they were looking for ways that you’d discriminated against him. Making implications that you didn’t feel were accurate. You didn’t feel it went well and you don’t know what will happen next.
3. They asked to see documentation of Henry’s performance problems. They wanted to see the evidence that you’d talked to him about his poor performance. They asked if Henry was disciplined for his poor performance, in writing. They asked a lot of questions about his absence and why you terminated Henry immediately following his return to work. In the end, the EEOC concluded you had discriminated against Henry and his termination was retaliation for taking time off to attend a church conference.

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As an HR manager, you’re confronted with various scenarios on a daily basis. For Marie, a Monday morning discussion with a warehouse employee presented a challenging situation that, unfortunately, she didn’t initially respond to properly. Thinking someone was playing a joke on her, she inappropriately laughed at the employee’s pronouncement that he was transitioning from a man to a woman. Read on to learn how she recovered her composure and took the appropriate steps regarding his transition and his privacy.*

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An employee has just returned from pregnancy leave and is requesting time and space to “pump” at work. You’re not sure what this entails or how this is going to impact your business – not to mention the comfort level of your other employees.

Which of the following accommodations are you required to offer?

1. You have to give her several paid breaks throughout the day lasting 30 minutes or more.
2. You must provide a private area for her to “pump” – someplace other than a bathroom.
3. You must provide her unpaid time off to go home up to three times in an 8-hour shift to feed her baby.
4. You do not have to accommodate the employee’s request. She can pump on her lunch break.

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Managers are expected to exercise good judgement at work, but what happens when managers “hang out” with employees after work? Are they still expected to use good judgment? One HR manager decided that, yes, the company’s expectation extended beyond the workplace – at least when it comes to interacting with subordinates. See if you agree.*

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After your company’s fantastic year, you’ve decided to reward your employees with a holiday “thank you” gift.

Some ideas include an option of cash, gift cards, or one of those delicious honey baked hams – save them from slaving away in the kitchen. Although cash is always popular, you want to ensure your gift doesn’t come with any unwanted consequences.

You remember vague details about gifts being taxable, but don’t know if:

1. You can give your employees a gift of any value without it being taxable;
2. All employee gifts are taxable income to the employee;
3. Gifts up to $100 are not considered taxable;
4. Nominal gifts are not taxable, but cash and gift cards always are.

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This morning Andrea, your most disgruntled employee, turned in her resignation and will be leaving in two weeks.

You are thrilled. Andrea has been a problem employee for years. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, she has been doing even less work than before and has made several disparaging remarks about the company.

You tell Andrea to pack up her things and go.

Andrea reminds you she gave a two-week notice and she wants to work through the notice period.

How should you handle this issue?

1. Let Andrea continue to work. You are required to let her work through her notice period by law.
2. Ask Andrea if she wants to shorten her notice (and get it in writing). If she chooses not to, let Andrea know she no longer needs to report to work and that you will pay her through the notice period.
3. Get rid of Andrea, the sooner the better. No harm done since she gave her notice.

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You operate a popular Mexican restaurant. Last week, one of your employees, Lando, informed you that he has just converted to a new faith – Jedism – and, as a tenant of his religious faith, he is prohibited from working on May the 4th, which is its major holiday. Lando then asked for May the 4th off from work as a religious accommodation.

Coincidentally, due to its proximity to Cinco de Mayo, May 4th is also one of your restaurant’s busiest working days. In fact, it’s so busy that you require all employees to work that day.

In response, you told Lando, “Wait, you agreed to cover that day when I hired you; if you’re not available, I’ll have to pay overtime which I can’t afford.”

Lando’s reply, “It’s required by my faith.”
What should you do?

1. Require him to bring you written proof from a religious authority, that he’s a member of this new faith, and that his faith requires him not to perform any work on May the 4th.
2. Grant the request – you have no choice!
3. Talk to him to see if there’s another option, other than not reporting to work, that would allow him to satisfy his religious belief.
4. Deny the request.

Employers often deal with customer complaints ranging from slow service to under cooked food. But what happens when you receive a customer complaint claiming discrimination?

You receive a letter in the mail that states:

We came in on Saturday for a special dinner celebrating our 10 year anniversary. We were pleasantly greeted and seated right away. The server was very knowledgeable and gave us great meal recommendations.
When she asked us if we were celebrating a special occasion, we told her about our anniversary. She looked stunned, nodded and walked away. The rest of the evening she rarely came by our table. It took her 30 minutes
to come back and take our order and it took over an hour for our food to arrive, which was cold indicating it had been sitting for a while. When we tried to ask about the delay she was very short and rudely replied,
“If you don’t like it here, why don’t you go somewhere else”. We noticed that other parties she waited on were treated well and were given excellent service. I’m not sure why we were treated this way, but
I can guess it is because my partner and I are a same-sex couple. I don’t wish for anyone else to be treated this way and hope the issue is addressed.

What do you do with this complaint?

1. It’s just a letter expressing this person’s experience. Put it in the circular file.
2. This may be discrimination complaint, but this person is not your employee. You can’t do much about the issue. Just send him a coupon for his next meal.
3. Anti-discrimination and harassment laws protect customers, clients, and vendors from harassment and discrimination. You will need to investigate, make a determination and take any necessary remedial action to ensure
   discrimination stops and does not continue.

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The work day is always more enjoyable when you get along with your coworkers. But what happens when employees joke around to the point of making potentially racist comments? We’re not saying that humor is bad, but the work environment has limits that must be respected to protect all involved.

When a joke goes too far, HR Professionals need to be prepared to handle the situation at once. Read on to see how name calling in the workplace quickly turned into complaints of harassing and discriminating behavior.*

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On Friday, you received a resignation letter from Maxine, your company’s nightmare employee. Maxine has made your life challenging to say the least; she constantly complains about insignificant matters such as the quality of the snacks in the breakroom, argues with co-workers, and questions her supervisor on every assignment given to her. In addition, Maxine is rude to customers and frequently makes errors, despite receiving follow-up training. In fact, Maxine’s conduct towards customers recently cost your company one of its most valuable accounts.

Needless to say, upon receipt of Maxine’s resignation letter, you were overjoyed. Yet, before you were able to break out the champagne, you received an email from Maxine claiming she had no choice but to quit because of her manager’s inappropriate behavior.

Can you just ignore her email?

1. No. You must conduct an investigation and take corrective action, if necessary. You must also respond to Maxine’s complaint, but since she was a nightmare employee, there is no need to offer reinstatement.
2. Yes. You do not have to take any action because the complaint was not mentioned in Maxine’s resignation letter. You can just delete her email.
3. Yes. Only current employees can complain about workplace conditions. Maxine resigned, and the company has no legal obligation to investigate the complaint or to reinstate Maxine.
4. No. You must conduct an investigation and take corrective action, if necessary. You must also respond to Maxine’s complaint and should offer reinstatement with the assurance that the complaint has been addressed.

Four days ago, Andy, one of your employees, fell down the stairs. You asked Andy if he wanted to file a workers’ compensation claim, but he refused. Andy said that he was fine and did not need to see a doctor. Andy worked the remainder of his shift without further incident and went home. Andy then called in sick the next three days.

This morning, Andy comes to work on crutches and wearing a neck brace. Andy tells you that, after work, his neck was bothering him, so he went to Urgent Care for treatment. Andy hands you a doctor’s note, which excuses him from work for the past three days and places him on light duty for the rest of the week – a request that is granted.

You again ask Andy if he wants to file a workers’ compensation claim. Once again, Andy refuses, saying that his problems are resolved and he does not want to be a bother.

How should you handle this issue?

1. All injuries beyond first aid should be reported to your workers’ compensation carrier immediately – regardless of what Andy has requested.
2. Andy has the right to refuse to file a claim. You have fulfilled your obligation under the law by asking him if he would like to file a claim and need to take no further action.
3. You can ask Andy to sign a waiver. Once signed, Andy cannot later file a workers’ compensation claim for this injury.
4. Andy should be terminated because he did not report his injury to you immediately.

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1. Let Josef continue to work. Once you verify at hire you never have to re-verify documents again.
2. Terminate Josef since he does not have a non-expired form of employment eligibility documentation.
3. You may accept a List A document, a List C document, or an acceptable receipt under the receipt rule to satisfy Form I-9 reverification requirements.

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