Termination of employee
Employee misses days of work, cancel appointments, collected cash on jobs and does not turn in the monies to the company, admitts himself into the hospital for alcohol or mental problems but never calls into work to notify employer. Do I have grounds to terminate this employee without any law suites being filed by the employee against the employer?
1 answer | asked Jan 9, 2003 6:05 PM [EST] | applies to Ohio
Answers (1)
Engaging in protected conduct does not insulate an employee
An employer can terminate an at-will employee without reason or for any reason, so long as it is not an unlawful reason. You could therefore terminate this employee for no reason or for the reason(s) of excessive absenteeism, theft or no-call no show.
The risk you run, however, is that the employee will claim that the real reason for termination is unlawful, being either that the employee is disabled or is on family and medical leave. Assuming that the employee is, in fact, disabled (which is not at all clear) or is entitled to FMLA leave (which requires you to have 50 or more employees and the employee to have worked at least a year), you should make sure that you can prove that you decided to terminate the employee for the lawful reasons and not the unlawful ones.
You may call me at 330.665.5445 if you would like to review this matter in greater detail. We offer an initial consultation at an hourly rate of $130, which I would offer for purposes of this evaluation.
Best regards,
Neil Klingshirn
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Jan 10, 2003 3:27 PM [EST]
An employer can terminate an at-will employee without reason or for any reason, so long as it is not an unlawful reason. You could therefore terminate this employee for no reason or for the reason(s) of excessive absenteeism, theft or no-call no show.
The risk you run, however, is that the employee will claim that the real reason for termination is unlawful, being either that the employee is disabled or is on family and medical leave. Assuming that the employee is, in fact, disabled (which is not at all clear) or is entitled to FMLA leave (which requires you to have 50 or more employees and the employee to have worked at least a year), you should make sure that you can prove that you decided to terminate the employee for the lawful reasons and not the unlawful ones.
You may call me at 330.665.5445 if you would like to review this matter in greater detail. We offer an initial consultation at an hourly rate of $130, which I would offer for purposes of this evaluation.
Best regards,
Neil Klingshirn
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Jan 10, 2003 3:27 PM [EST]
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