In today’s economic climate, you might be tempted to forgo hiring a temp to fill in for an employee who’s out on FMLA leave. Especially if you initially believe the employee won’t be gone long, what’s the harm? But what will you do if the employee returns to a huge pile of work left undone during her absence? Think twice before you tell her to catch up or else.

Employees are entitled to broad protection from discrimination based on their religious beliefs and practices. However, that protection has limits. Consider, for example, what may happen if an employee tries to bludgeon—figuratively—her fellow employees with her religious beliefs.

Q. I just found out that an employee filed for bankruptcy. I’m concerned, because she works a cash register and has access to money. Can I fire this employee?

Employers that take the time to document workplace problems usually don’t lose discrimination lawsuits. The reason is simple: A carefully documented work history—showing exactly how the employee was breaking rules or underperforming—makes it difficult to prove discrimination.

Some disabled employees believe that their disabilities excuse them from following the workplace rules other employees have to abide by. That’s not true.

Most jobs can be quantified. That is, it’s possible to measure success on the job by tallying how much an employee produces in a given period—whether that’s widgets, reports, new clients or sales. By using such objective measures to decide who is terminated, employers have powerful evidence to counter discrimination claims.

Over my 10 years as an executive coach, many of my clients have felt like they’re between a rock and a hard place because they have someone on their team who produces great results but alienates almost everyone around them. It’s what we’ve come to call the prima donna. If you have a prima donna on your team who keeps playing games, bite the bullet and fire the person. Here's why:

With workplace violence continuing to make news, employers naturally want to lessen the chance that an angry employee will try to do harm. When they’re about to fire an employee, some employers search the worker’s car to make sure it doesn’t contain any weapons. Handle that search as unobtrusively as possible.

Q. Another company has requested a reference for an employee that we fired. The company has a signed form giving the employee’s written consent to ask us for a reference. Will we have legal problems if we provide negative information about the employee?

If you have hiring and firing responsibilities, you may worry from time to time whether you could be held personally liable for your decisions. Now a Texas appeals court has answered that question—at least in situations involving the firing of someone who refuses to engage in an act she believes is illegal. The court said there is no personal liability.

Looking to get sued? Just throw the book at an employee whom you would just as soon see resign. That’s especially true if she has just engaged in some form of protected activity like asking for FMLA leave.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has upheld an arbitrator’s decision granting desk duty to a Pennsylvania state trooper who has a history of depression.

Astea International has agreed to settle an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) lawsuit for $175,000. The EEOC brought the suit on behalf of 47-year-old Frank Fesnak, who was fired from his position as the Horsham-based company’s vice president of strategic alliances.

The cardinal rule for employers is to punish like offenses the same way. But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have some flexibility. For example, when two employees break the same rule, the underlying reasons might be considerably different. If you decide to punish one more severely than the other, document why you don’t consider the circumstances the same.

When OSHA said it had received an anonymous complaint about safety conditions at one of Brocon Petroleum’s work sites, executives there had a pretty good idea who made the call. So the Freehold-based company fired the employee. OSHA did not take it well ...