How to fire an employee

The Wall Street Journal recently asked this simple question:

What's the Best Way to Fire Someone?

I have some thoughts.

Bathroom conversations aren't private conversations

Michael Woods, a mortgage banker at Quicken Loans, was having a bad day at work. A customer Woods had helped four years ago had been trying to get in touch with a Client Specialist; the company routed the call to Woods because of their prior relationship. He aired his grievance to a co-worker, Austin Laff, while they were in the bathroom together. "The client should get in touch with a fucking Client Care Specialist and quit wasting my fucking time."

Jorge Mendez, a supervisor, overheard this conversation from a stall. He responded with an all-employee email reminding everyone of proper conduct in public areas. "Never, EVER, should we be swearing in the bathroom especially about clients."

That's how the ball bounces: 6th Circuit says that the ADA does not require a new supervisor as a reasonable accommodation

Cindy Tinsley was so stressed.

How stressed was she?

She was so stressed that even something as simple as her co-workers at Caterpillar Financial Services bouncing stress balls off the ground would trigger her post-traumatic stress disorder.

Maybe you should rethink telling your employee you're firing him becaus of his heart problems

Jonathan Baum worked as a scheduler for Metro Restoration Services. In late 2014, he began have cardiac problems. Over the course of the next several months, he went to the ER fearing a heart attack, had a heart catheter implanted, had an echocardiogram, and wore a heart monitor. He occasionally also missed work for medical tests and treatments, and sometimes worked remotely. His boss, and the owner of Metro, Patrick Cahill, was aware of all of Baum's medical issues.

Following a work day on which Baum had worked remotely from his home. Cahill fired him. The expressly stated reason: "health issues and doctors' appointments."

Oops.

WIRTW #548 (the “working for the weekend” edition)

I thought I'd update everyone on the summer goings-on of Northeast Ohio's favorite age-15-and-under cover band, Fake ID.

They have a busy summer. They will kick it off with a return engagement at Ohio Bike Week. After stealing the festival last year (really, go to the Ohio Bike Week Facebook page and read the reviews), they've been invited back to tear it up again.

Loverboy … and Fake ID. My 10-year-old self watching MTV in my grandparents' basement is totally freaking out.

Then, the band has a residency booked at Westlake's Crocker Park. They'll be playing on June 15, July 6, August 9, and August 20 (all from 5:30 – 7, on the square in front of the movie theater).

Pretty cool stuff for my 12-year-old daughter.

Here's what I read this week:

The three things you need to know from the EEOC's 2018 charge data

Yesterday, the EEOC released its charge statistics for 2018. There are three big things you need to know.

When workplace training goes very, very wrong

A few months ago I participated in active-shooter training. I presented harassment training for a local manufacturer, and, at its conclusion, the company played a 10-minute video explaining to its employees what to do in an active-shooter situation. Generally I'm not a fan of training videos. They tend to be boring, poorly acted, and ineffective. This one, however, was quite effective. It was not only chilling to watch, but, a few months out, I still recall the ABCs of what to do during an active shooter (Avoid, Barricade, Confront).

An Indiana school district, however, had a different idea of how to train its employees to prepare for an active shooter.

This employer had its employees shot in the back, execution style, with plastic pellets.

To help end sexual harassment, men MUST be better in reporting it when they witness it

"Dad, something bad happened at recess today!"

It's a refrain I sometimes hear at the dinner table.

"Donovan, what happened?"

"Joe pushed Billy off the swing, and Billy cut his knee when he fell."

"Did anyone let a teacher know what happened?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I didn't because I didn't want to be a tattletale."

I've had this conversation with both of my kids — the difference between being a tattletale and reporting an unsafe situation.

The 10th nominee for the “worst employer of 2019” is … the exorcising employer

Is it too early to declare a winner for 2019's contest?

According to the complaint Jason Fields fired against the Hampton Inn at which he worked, and its manager, Sharon Lindon, he had to endure some pretty odd stuff during his employment.

As he tells his story, Lindon decided to help Field's after she learned of his impending divorce. How? By offering to exorcise him.

WIRTW #547 (the “new music Friday” edition)

Jenny Lewis just released the first great album of 2019.  

On The Line has witty and funny, yet touching and sad, lyrics, and beautiful melodies that will stick in your head. It's an album that commands your attention. I'll be shocked if it's not at the top of the "Best Of" lists at year's end. You should listen, now and often.

I fart in your general direction: flatulence as harassment?

An Australian court has rejected an employee's claim that his supervisor unlawfully harassed him by farting on him.

David Hingst sought 1.8 million Australian dollars ($1.3 million) in damages based on a claim his supervisor would enter his small, windowless office several times a day and "break wind on him or at him … thinking this to be funny."

The 9th nominee for the “worst employer of 2019” is … the fertile firing

MoMA PS1, a Queens, New York, art museum, has agreed to settle a pregnancy discrimination claim brought by Nikki Columbus, hired by the museum to direct its performance program. She alleged that the museum rescinded her job offer after it learned she had recently given birth.

Happy New Regulation Tuesday! DOL proposes updates to the definitions of "regular rate" and "joint employer".

Over the past week, the Department of Labor's announced proposals for significant (and much needed) regulatory updates to the definitions of "regular rate" and "joint employer".

What I learned on my Spring Break

I just returned from eight days in Italy. It was a whirlwind Spring Break tour of Rome and Florence. We covered a lot of ground — per my Apple Watch, 63 miles and 140,000 steps, to be precise. And we saw a lot of stuff — the Vatican, the Colosseum, lots of beautiful churches, lots of ancient sites and ruins, and (almost) too much pizza, pasta, and gelato (but never too much wine).

WIRTW #546 (the “Arrivederci” edition)

Today is good bye … but only for two weeks. My kids' school gives them that much time off for Spring Break each year. So we are headed to Italy. Rome and Florence to be precise.

I'll be back on April 1 (no foolin') with some thoughts about what I learned on my Spring Break.

In the meantime, if you have any last minute tips on what to do, see, or eat in either of these cities, drop a note in the comments below.

Here's what I read this week:

Share or Retweet if you care about paid parental leave

Earlier this week, Republican Senators Joni Ernst and Mike Lee introduced the Child Rearing and Development Leave Empowerment Act (the CRADLE Act). It is a first step towards providing some measure of paid parental leave to American workers. Yet, it has some serious flaws.

The 8th nominee for the “worst employer of 2019” is … the lascivious leader

I can't do any better of job than the EEOC did in describing the parade of horribles the one supervisor wrought at Sys-Con, a Montgomery, Alabama, general contractor:

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, from December 2015 to May 2017, a supervisor at Sys-Con's worksite at the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Montgomery, demanded sexual favors from two non-English speaking Hispanic female employees and watched pornographic videos in front of them. The EEOC further charged that the supervisor sexually assaulted one of the employees and sub­sequently taunted her, asking whether she "liked it."

The FLSA's salary test just doesn't matter

By now you've likely heard that the Department of Labor announced its intent to increase the qualifying salary threshold for its white collar exemptions from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $679 per week ($35,308 annually).

I'm here to tell you that this increase just doesn't matter.

What a lawful "civility" policy looks like under the NLRB's Boeing test

Consider and compare the following workplace civility policies:

Commitment to My Co-Workers

• I will accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships with you and every member of this team.
• I will talk to your promptly if I am having a problem with you. The only time I will discuss it with another person is when I need advice or help in deciding how to communicate with you appropriately.
• I will not complain about another team member and ask you not to as well. If I hear you doing so, I will ask you to talk to that person.
• I will be committed to finding solutions to problems rather than complaining about them or blaming someone for them, and ask you to do the same. 

-vs-

Blogging 

Blogging outside of the hospital must not include … disparaging comments about the hospital.

WIRTW #545 (the “International Women's Day” edition) #IWD2019

Happy International Women's Day!

I didn't always consider myself a feminist. But I'm proud to call myself one ever since May 27, 2006—the day my daughter was born.

It wasn't that I was hostile to the issue; I just never engaged in any active thought about it. Now that I have a female life for which I am responsible, I fully embrace the term.