HR Specialist: North Carolina Employment Law

Complex state and local laws in the Tar Heel State can give employers the blues. Aggressive attorneys don’t stop with federal laws like FMLA, ADA and FLSA: they use state and local living-wage statutes, rural codes, plus discrimination and other laws to sue employers for sky’s-the-limit damages. This North Carolina-specific newsletter arrives monthly to help sue-proof every aspect of HR. Written in plain English, it’s your insurance policy for staying in step with current interpretations of state and local laws – and staying out of court. Learn more about HR Specialist: North Carolina Employment Law and the free report you’ll get when you subscribe...

Of course, employees have the right to take protected FMLA leave. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take action you already planned to take for other legitimate reasons before you found out the employee needed FMLA leave.

Just be prepared to show you would have taken the same action whether the employee took leave or not.

Recent case: Carlyle Hill, who directed the security function for Belk department stores, began receiving poor reviews. The chain warned him that his performance needed to improve. He then told HR his wife was ill and needed his care.

Hill took 16 weeks of paid leave, but when he was ready to return, Belk denied him reinstatement. He sued for FMLA retaliation.

The court said Hill didn’t have a case because the chain could show it was ready to fire him anyway. (Hill v. Belk, No. 3:06-CV-398, WD NC, 2009)