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Hello-
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
Thanks
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On Apr 23, 6:59 am, bobwo...@yahoo.com wrote:
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
That depends. Is there a contract? Either individually with her,
or e.g. a union collective bargaining contract? Is there any kind of
internal grievance procedure in your company that legally must be
followed (e.g. if it is set out in the employee handbook) before you
can take job action against an employee? Is there a chance that this
employee might raise some Title 7 discrimination issues and file an
EEOC complaint claiming that her sex, or her age, or her race,
religion, etc. is the real reason you are doing this to her, either
for being fired or being demoted, whether or not her claims would have
merit? Is there any other factual basis on which she could argue that
demotion or firing was legally wrongful as to her -- e.g. was she a
whistleblower who went over the heads of her supervisors and reported
corporate wrongdoing to the authorities because no one above her was
doing anything about it? Those are just a few examples, and there are
myriad reasons why you could get into big trouble for either firing OR
demoting her. OTOH, you could be perfectly safe doing either -- "it
depends."
The bottom line is, if you run a company that is big enough to have
employees who manage or supervise other employees, you are making a
big stupid mistake if you do not have an employment lawyer (or firm)
on retainer to pick up the phone when you call and answer these kind
of questions for you, in confidence, based on his/her intimate
knowledge of your actual corporate structure, employee contracts,
grievance procedures and business operations, and who can help you
plan a pro-active course of employee relations designed to keep you
OUT of trouble and not just to pull your fat out of the fire when the
frying pan hits the ... well, you get my drift. You shouldn't be
hanging your company's fate on free advice from total strangers in a
Usenet discussion group. Because, even though you may have been very
lucky so far and never had to face a legal challenge from a
disgruntled employee, it is as inevitable as rain, even in the driest
desert, that eventually you are going to be sued by one of them, and
then you will be playing catch-up ball (if you even can) rather than
staying in control of events based on a sensible plan.
I'm sure there are plenty of good corporate-side labor lawyers in CA
eager to participate in a "beauty contest" to see who will become your
company's go-to law firm if you put out some feelers and conduct some
interviews to see who you want to hire (just like you would do with
choosing your regular employees), and then you can make an informed
decision. Good luck,
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult your own lawyer in a
private communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
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On Apr 23, 3:59=EF=BF=BDam, bobwo...@yahoo.com wrote:
Hello-
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. =EF=BF=BDAs a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
Thanks
Something is missing here...Was she promoted and now you want to
demote her?
In the absence of a contract, you may manage your employees as you see
fit.
IMHO, if you can't be tactful, the employee will likely be resentful
and you might be better severed to dismiss her.
good luck,
Larry
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In article <hh5u04hh8m31njssth04jo15tghd0dlena@4ax.com>,
bobwob21@yahoo.com wrote:
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
No problem. Just let her know that management has decided to
make a change, and that her role as Asst Manager is coming to
an end. Then let her know that the company would really like
to keep her on board, and wishes to offer her job X. Leave
it up to her. I like to leave these kinds of things up to
the employee if they want to stay or go. It might be that
she is just as unhappy but is afraid to say anything. It
is also possible that she will have a hard time facing other
employees because her pride is hurt.
-john-
--
======================================================================
John A. Weeks III 612-720-2854 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
======================================================================
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Wed, 23 Apr 2008 06:59:06 -0400 from <bobwob21@yahoo.com>:
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
Does she have an employment contract guaranteeing her a particular
job? (That would be most unusual for lower-level management, outside
possibly of civil service.) If not, she can certainly be demoted for
any reason including her own perfomance and "the convenience of the
company", as long as the demotion is not motivated by her race, sex,
religion, or other protected category.
If there is a union contract or written company policy that mandates
hearings or other steps, you have to go through those first.
Turn it around -- since the company has the right to fire her for any
reason (except discrimination) or for no reason, it certainly has the
right to demote her.
Since you say this is performance based, I assume you have
documentation in her file of her under-performance and the warnings
she has received. While these are not legally required for a
demotion, they will help you if she files a discrimination claim or
if she claims she was effectively fired and files for unemployment.
--
If you e-mail me from a fake address, your fingers will drop off.
I am not a lawyer; this is not legal advice. When you read anything
legal on the net, always verify it on your own, in light of your
particular circumstances. You may also need to consult a lawyer.
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
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bobwob21@yahoo.com wrote:
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
As long as you can establish the reason is her performance and not
based on her gender, age, race or some other legal basis, yes you can
do that.
But be careful. I suggest you consult an employment lawyer so that you
can properly document what you are doing and not fall into a trap of
looking too much like an illegal demotion.
Stu
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In article <hh5u04hh8m31njssth04jo15tghd0dlena@4ax.com>,
<bobwob21@yahoo.com> wrote:
I have an employee here in CA who is not performing her tasks up to
the level of an Asst. Manager. As a reg employee, she is fine.
Anyway, I wanted to know if I can reduce her wages and position
legally back to where she is, or do I have to cut her loose?
What does the contract say?
Seth
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On Apr 24, 7:50 am, Stuart Bronstein <spamt...@lexregia.com> wrote:
bobwo...@yahoo.com wrote:
As long as you can establish the reason is her performance and not
based on her gender, age, race or some other legal basis, yes you can
do that.
But be careful. I suggest you consult an employment lawyer so that you
can properly document what you are doing and not fall into a trap of
looking too much like an illegal demotion.
Stu
The main reason she took the asst manager job was most likely because
she wanted to make more money. So the demotion will be much more
palatable if you don't reduce her salary. Also, the problem is
probably not just with her... maybe she was "not up" to the job in
part because others were not doing THEIR jobs.
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