The Employer Handbook Blog

An employee getting fired for caustic social-media posts is so 2011. Having an application for unemployment-compensation benefits denied because of Twitter stupidity -- that's the new black.

Details of a recent Commonwealth of Pennsylvania decision -- don't tread on me, Idaho -- after the jump...

Continue reading "Employee's Twitter hatin' costs him unemployment benefits" »

Starting this year, employees who receive severance pay in excess of 40% of the average annual wage in Pennsylvania will have their unemployment compensation benefits offset. Currently, that 40% number is $17,853.00.

As Jonathan Segal, Legislative Director for PA State Council of SHRM, notes here, employers should be very careful not to represent anything in a severance agreement that an employee could reasonably construe as suggesting that this change in the law will not apply. He adds here that employers should also consider beefing up their severance-agreement-release language to confirm that the release is effective even if severance is offset or reduced under PA law.

You can read more on the change in the law here.

Mach·i·a·vel·li·an   [mak-ee-uh-vel-ee-uhn] adjective

1. of, like, or befitting Machiavelli.


2. characterized by subtle or unscrupulous cunning. He resorted to Machiavellian tactics in order to get ahead.


3. The quality associated with marketing a line of greeting cards to capitalize on the 9.1% unemployment rate in the United States. Hallmark's decision to sell unemployment sympathy cards is hella-Machiavellian.

If you read this blog (or just about any other labor and employment law blog), you know that social media policies have fallen under recent heightened scrutiny because of the chilling effect they could have on employees discussing terms and conditions of employment (e.g., wages, hours, etc.) with each other online. Where there is no controversy, however, is that companies may discipline employees who shirk their job responsibilities and goof of online -- especially while on the clock. 

After the jump, it's a decision from the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania denying unemployment compensation benefits to a nurse who was fired for using Facebook at work while she should have been medicating patients.

Continue reading "No unemployment benefits for woman fired for Facebooking at work" »

Hi there, Pennsylvania employers. Do you have employees that remind you of the sleeping gentleman in the picture to the right? After the jump, read about a local employee who was fired after getting caught sleeping on the job four times, and still successfully obtained unemployment compensation benefits!

Continue reading "PA employee sleeps on the job and still collects unemployment" »