<i>Don't</i> Tell It To The Judge It's good to fire bad employees. It's not so good to yap about how bad they were at unemployment hearings.

Like a bad dream, that no-good employee just keeps reappearing.Fed up with all the absences and sloppy work, you fired the bum andthought you'd seen the last of him. But then he had theaudacity to file for unemployment compensation. And as soon as youget the paperwork for that off your desk and trudge downtown for ahearing, you find out he's sued your company for wrongfultermination. Then, in the midst of that quagmire, you learn theworst: that the comments you made at the unemployment compensationhearing when you wanted to get him out of your life are nowevidence in the lawsuit.

It can happen. Routine hearings over unemployment compensationsometimes lay the groundwork for an employment lawsuit by the sameemployee. In some states, issues decided by the unemploymentcompensation commission may not be opened again in a court of law.In others, where state law specifically bars that doctrine, offhandcomments made in the informal hearing may show up later as damagingevidence in the lawsuit. Be careful how you handle unemploymentclaims and consider how your response could be used against you incourt.