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Facts - Books - News    U.S. Facts Of Law:

Hiring & Firing

Hiring

Generally, a prospective employee is evaluated for employment through the use of the job interview. 

In the U.S. employers are forbidden to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of gender, race, age or sexual orientation.  Employment laws make such discrimination an illegal practice in the hiring of employees.  The asking of questions of a prospective employee directly about these areas constitutes an illegal hiring practice.

Firing

In the U.S. employees are typically hired under an "at-will" contract.  This allows either the employee or the employer to terminate the employment at any time for any reason whatsoever.  In recent years employers have seen their rights to terminate employment without cause attacked by the courts.

Employers are finding that firing an employee can be an expensive and risky procedure requiring extensive documentation in the event that the employee challenges the dismissal.  Fired employees can be more easily convinced to provide competitors with trade secrets or to expose illegal practices going on at the company.  Also, the former employer is required to finance any unemployment benefits that may be awarded to the fired or laid off worker.

The most severe form of employee termination is "firing" the employee.  A less sever form of termination occurs when a company is forced to downsize or experiences a slowing of the business and an employee is "laid off" with a possible expectation that the employee could be re-hired when business picks up again.  Lay offs of large numbers of employees occurs in the U.S. with regularity as companies re-size and otherwise struggle to compete.

Other Types of Termination:

Forced Resignations

To avoid some of the repercussions of firing an employee, an employee about to be fired may be asked to submit his or her resignation.  This method of firing is often used when dealing with a high-profile employee such as a manager, executive, officer or other highly positioned employee.  By allowing the employee to offer a resignation the company reduces the risk involved with an outright firing and may avoid the appearance of a ruthless or hostile employer.  The benefits to the employee to resign rather than be fired includes the saving of face for the employee and the better prospects to obtain another job by not having to admit to being fired to new prospective employer.

Changing of Conditions

Sometimes an employer may wish an employee to quit but doesn't want to resort to a firing or a forced resignation.  In these cases the employer may lower the employees responsibilities or working conditions in hopes that the employee will leave voluntarily.  The employee could be transferred to an undesirable geographical area, assigned menial tasks, given fewer working hours, demoted or asked to work an undesirable shift.  The employee might also be subjected to unfair punishment for things that are overlooked with other employees.  Many employees subjected to such conditions will find other work where opportunities appear more promising and management doesn't seem to "have it out" for the employee.

Layoffs And Furloughs

An employee may be terminated as a result of the down sizing of a companies work force. Such terminations are known as layoffs or furloughs.  Companies are constantly evaluating their need for more or fewer employees in light of production demands and instead of hiring more employees may decide it has too many employees for current conditions.  While many companies will try to transfer or find other jobs for employees scheduled for layoff this is not always possible and the laying off of employees may be the only solution to a company's down sizing.  In some cases, the employee may regain his or her job when conditions permit the company to add more employees.

 

 

Hiring & Firing Best Sellers from Amazon.com

American Bar Association Guide to Workplace Law, 2nd Edition: Everything Ever...
by American Bar Association
Amazon Price: $11.53
Customer Review: I started doing some contract work as a recruiter and I needed a well written legal guide to employment law and this is it. A great reference and well as book you can read thru to give yourself a primer on employment law. A must for the small busin...

The Nanny Book: The Smart Parent's Guide to Hiring, Firing, and Every Sticky ...
by Susan Carlton, Coco Myers
Amazon Price: $10.85
Customer Review: This book was not bad, but left me wanting a few more answers. It's a nice introduction to the nanny hiring process, if you are completely new to the idea of paid childcare. The style is easy to read, and much of it is written in a Q&A format (like...

Fair, Square & Legal: Safe Hiring, Managing & Firing Practices to Keep You & ...
by Donald H. Weiss
Amazon Price: $23.10
Customer Review: This is the Fourth Edition of an exceptionally valuable book which was first published in 1991. Weiss has updated his material to accommodate new laws, regulations, and court decisions which are directly relevant to discrimination and EEOC guidelines...

Hiring and Firing (Lessons Learned)
by Fifty Lessons
Amazon Price: $9.95

The Hiring and Firing Question and Answer Book
by Paul Falcone
Amazon Price:
Customer Review: This covers a really wide range of subjects that pretty much every manager, supervisor or HR Rep would have to deal with at some time or another and it explains complicated issues in easy to understand language. I really like the style of this book: ...


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Hiring & Firing News

Aldermen Seek AG Opinion On Hiring And Firing Of Employees The Bolivar Commer...
The city of Cleveland may soon be operating differently. At Tuesdays board of aldermen meeting, a discussion was brought up on the citys hiring and firing policy.

Head Of N.C. Employee Health Plan Fired WRAL.com Raleigh
George Stokes, the executive administrator of the state employee health insurance plan has been fired abruptly after a legislative leader said the plan failed to meet its fiscal goals.

Oakland Council Head: Edgerly Firing Long Overdue CBS 5 Bay Area
Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said Wednesday that he supported the decision to fire the citys embattled administrator, suspected of tampering with a police investigation, calling it long overdue.

Firing Brings Discrimination Suit Against Janitorial Company El Paso Times
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit alleging a janitorial company in El Paso fired a black employee who worked at Fort Bliss because of his race, EEOC officials said Tuesday.

Muncy Borough Council Cures Premature Termination The Williamsport SunGazette
MUNCY Action taken by borough council Tuesday night may have cured an alleged Sunshine Law violation, according to media counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. Council took an official vote to fire secretary/treasurer Elaine McAleer during its reglar monthly meeting Tuesday after firing, then revoking the termination and suspending McAleer in June without a public vote.

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