Firing and Rehiring: I want the following questions to be answered.
(situation in State of California - at will employment - small
business)
1.If you fire an employee because of conduct and rehire within a week
(after employee convinced the employer - whatever happened will not
happen again), do the employer has obligation to consider seniority?
or benefits ? In other words, Can employer consider the rehired
employee as a Fresh New Employee or do the employer has any legal
obligations?
2.In the situation like above, what are the different legal rights for
employee and employer (in California - at will employment - small
business)

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Clarification of Question by ezmathtrix-ga on 13 Jan 2006 04:35 PST

3.When you rehire in the above situation, is there any time period
between firing and rehiring which dictates the seniority benefits?
(Any difference between rehiring after one day of firing or after longer duration)

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Clarification of Question by ezmathtrix-ga on 14 Jan 2006 04:33 PST

Thanks for the answers: I would like to have one clarification. If an
employee is eligible to get retirement benefit after one year of
employment and that employee is fired before completion of one year
and rehired in a week or two weeks time, that employee is not eligible
for that benefit (at-will employment, CA). Of course, one of your
answers says: at-will employees do not have any claim about seniority
or any other things.

Please comment on the above matter. Thanks in advance

Check the company's policy manual for a mention of "employment
continuation" or some other term.  It is not a rare occurance for
employees to leave a company and then rejoin at a later date.  If it
important to you than it might be important enough for the company to
put in their policy manual.

No company is too small to have a written policy manual, but if your
does not have one, and the stakes are large enough, maybe you should
talk to an attorney with employment law experience.

Ezmathrix, the question you ask is answerable, but not really
worthwhile at the price.  Let me explain why.  California employment
law is fairly complex, and does not say anything specific about
seniority.  Without a specific law to point to, a formal Answer would
require an analysis of cases, and further information from you about
your company's policy and practice.

Without going into the kind of research project that a formal Answer
would require, I will say this:  Generally speaking, California law
does not require seniority of any kind for at-will employees. 
Seniority is usually a creature of contract, whether union, company
policy, or company practice.  So California law all on its own is not
going to have much to say about it.

Does seniortity provide you with any benefit beyond prestige?

Thanks for the answers: I would like to have one clarification. If an
employee is eligible to get retirement benefit after one year of
employment and that employee is fired before completion of one year
and rehired in a week or two weeks time, that employee is not eligible
for that benefit (at-will employment, CA). Of course, one of your
answers says: at-will employees do not have any claim about seniority
or any other things.

Please comment on the above matter. Thanks in advance.

Just make it clear that the employee is being hired as a "new
employee" with no credit toward the retirement benefit.  If he has a
problem with that, don't hire him.  But I'd make sure it was explicit
at the time of re-hire, so he doesn't have any claim that he was
deceived into taking the job.