Dive Brief:
- While not many employers would consider rehiring an employee canned for misconduct or performance problems, one government agency, the Internal Revenue Service, at one point thought it was a good idea, according to SHRM.
- SHRM reports that from January 2010 to July 2013, the IRS rehired over 300 ex-workers fired for behaviors including fraud, tax delinquency, and accessing taxpayer records without authorization. Whatever the motivation, a December 2014 review by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration office found that several of those rehires were involved in new conduct and performance issues upon their return, SHRM reports.
- That begs the question, is rehiring problem workers a risk worth taking? Employment attorneys told SHRM that while there may be situations that make sense for rehiring fired workers, it's rare - and for good reason.
Dive Insight:
Such a program might work for an employer who is recovering from a restructuring or downsizing that caused layoffs, resulting in a talent shortage, SHRM reports. Of course, that's not necessarily a situation where people were let go for cause.
Sonya Rosenberg, lawyer with Neal Gerber & Eisenberg in Chicago, told SHRM that rehiring after layoffs is the only circumstance where she has seen success in rehiring a worker whose employment was terminated.
There are other situations (settling a grievance) in which rehiring might work, but the reasons are limited when compared to the risks. Eric Meyer, a partner in Philadelphia-based Dilworth Paxson LLP’s labor and employment group, told SHRM that rehiring an employee fired for cause presents the "inherent danger" that an employer is re-employing someone previously determined unfit for their workplace.
"That could lead to any number of undesirable outcomes," he said. Among them: lowered employee morale and the possibility that a rehired employee could want back into the workforce to fuel an "existing legal claim or to create a new one."
