Management Buzz 04/02
Firing your CEO and the latest ADA Supreme Court ruling
Head Case CEO turnover surged in 2001, with 929 CEOs leaving their posts,
according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Firing CEOs is almost trendy these days as a way for companies to
show investors and clients that they're intent on making a
turnaround. If you think it's time to show your chief executive
the door, ask yourself these questions: Is this CEO the right
leader for your company at this time and in this economy? Is the
company's performance the CEO's fault, or is it the result
of bad direction or information from you? Does the CEO recognize
the problem, and does he or she have a credible plan for changing
it? If not, and "if you're under-performing your
competitors for four quarters in a row, the CEO needs to go,"
says Gary Sutton, author of The Six Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing
Failing Companies (John Wiley & Sons). "When
earnings are down, you can almost automatically assume it's the
CEO unless you see competitors in the same boat." Once you decide the CEO's tenure is up, it's important
to move quickly to get your company back on track. "It may
sound brutal, but it needs to be," Sutton says. "CEOs are
well-rewarded for good profits. So the downside needs to be just as
painful as the upside is euphoric." Content Continues Below
Pain Relief In a victory for business owners, the Supreme Court limited the
scope of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) on January 8.
The court's ruling in Toyota v. Williams said an employee's
carpal tunnel syndrome had to significantly affect her "major
life activities," which the court declared included such daily
activities as brushing your teeth in addition to work. Sticking
closely to established precedent and the written law, the justices
ruled that work itself does not constitute the sum of major life
activities. But don't interpret the ruling to say carpal tunnel is not a
problem. "I think employers dodged a bullet on this one,"
says Michael D. Karpeles, head of the labor and employment group at
Chicago law firm Goldberg Kohn. "Another carpal tunnel
syndrome case might come out the other way." The ruling, however, represents a power shift that should help
entrepreneurs, says employment law specialist Byrona J. Maule at
Oklahoma City law firm Phillips McFall. It places the Supreme Court
squarely on the side of Congress' written intent rather than
the law's interpretation by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, which administers the ADA. Still, nothing in the ruling
changes the need to judge every ADA claim on a case-by-case basis.
"When somebody requests a reasonable [ADA] accommodation, get
some professional human resources or legal advice on how you should
respond," says Karpeles. "And document your
actions." Business writer Chris Sandlund (csandlund@entrepreneur.com)
works out of Cold Spring, New York. Contact Sources
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