Reuters - International Business Machines Corp has no plans for a mega-merger on the scale of Microsoft Corp's $40 billion-plus unsolicited bid for Yahoo Inc , Chief Executive Sam Palmisano said on Thursday.

UK mortgage approvals pick up, rise in lending weak (Reuters)
Reuters - British mortgage approvals unexpectedly picked up in January from a series low, but mortgage lending posted its weakest rise in two and a half years, according to Bank of England data on Friday.
If you own a company with strict OSHA laws on employee hygiene, you should enforce them with your employees. A fair investigation means you get the worker's side of the story, talk to other eyewitnesses and gather physical proof (if any) in a proper way. In this way, you can be certain the guidelines you're following are current and will help keep you protected as much as possible. Insubordination and dismissing go together because one leads to the other. It shows a jury you carefully considered the termination before carrying it out, and you gave the insubordinate employee "due process." It also shows someone else in the business supported the decision. Here's where we get into conflict with our ex-workers. All they needed was an-easy-to follow job termination process guide. If you terminate an employee for "cause," a clear, well-written statement of the rationale for the termination will inhibit any future law suit by the jobholder.

Why is it the worst at will employees, the ones that you simply must fire, are always the ones most likely to sue you? Another way to help the lay off is to aid the worker in any future endeavors he or she may have. However, when these fail, realize you may have to fire the jobholder involved. 2) Wait for overwhelming misbehavior and do a fair probe, or. Armed with your documentation and your employee dismissal later, you must then sit down with the worker and outline the grounds for the lay off. For a medium risk lay off, you can layoff right away, but you have increased legal exposure. Therefore, you should know how to fire an at will worker suitably to keep yourself out of hot water.