05/16/2008
Q. We recently learned that a new law was passed allowing the spouses of military personnel to take unpaid leave. Is this true? ...
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05/16/2008
Q. One of our employees has a boyfriend who has threatened her with physical violence. What steps, if any, should we take to protect the employee in the workplace? ...
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05/16/2008
Q. Our HR department is using I-9 forms from several years ago. At what point should we use the new revised form issued by the federal government? ...
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05/15/2008
Q. How should I calculate the number of hours to charge to an employee’s 12-week FMLA entitlement? We have employees who work 40, 55 and 64 hours per week. Do we give them a 12-week cap or do we extend the weekly amount to cover the amount of weeks it would take to cover 480 hours (which assumes a “standard” 40-hour week)? — N.P., Illinois ...
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05/15/2008
Q. We have an employee who is currently on short-term disability (STD) and is approaching long-term disability (LTD). Our company pays 95% of medical insurance premiums and 100% of STD and LTD premiums. The employee is no longer receiving a salary. Does our company have to continue to provide and pay for medical insurance? — K.M., Arizona ...
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05/15/2008
Q. I’m confused about medical certifications and employees who don’t want to use FMLA leave. Can I, if I believe the employee is out for an FMLA condition, force him to take FMLA leave? — A. B., Florida ...
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05/15/2008
Q. I’ve heard that if both parents work for the same company and they have a child, they’re only allowed to take a combined 12 weeks of FMLA leave. Is that true? — J.S., Pennsylvania
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05/13/2008
Q. One of our managers keeps notes of performance issues in a file that he uses for completing performance appraisals. One person he supervises has made a written request to see her personnel file—and specifically asked for information in the manager’s file. Do we have to give the notes to the employee? ...
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05/13/2008
Q. We are a small shop with 15 employees. One of our full-time employees who has been with us for more than five years recently announced that his wife is pregnant. He requested eight weeks’ leave after the baby is born. Are we required to give him this leave? ...
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05/13/2008
Q. Why is it that so many companies refuse to give references for former employees? ...
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05/09/2008
Q. Our company policy requires an employee’s supervisor to approve all overtime. However it’s common for employees to work overtime that has not been approved; time they then record on their time sheets. Since the overtime was never approved, our management takes the position that it does not need to pay for this overtime. My understanding is that all hours worked must be paid. Which is correct? ...
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05/09/2008
Q. Our company has been cited by the Department of Labor for what it considers to be a violation of a MIOSHA safety standard. We are appealing the citation, which we understand could take months or even a year or more to be resolved. Our citation contains an abatement date, but we don’t think we have to make the changes suggested because we still believe there was no violation of the standard. Can MIOSHA cite us again for the same condition because we have not abated the contested safety violation? ...
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05/09/2008
Q. We lease some of our workers from an agency. The agency handles all personnel needs of its employees, but our supervisors provide day-to-day direction to the workers. One of our agency employees, Jane, informed the agency that she was taking FMLA leave for her pregnancy. While Jane was out on leave, the agency supplied us with a replacement, Mary. Jane’s FMLA leave is over, and the agency wants to send her back. We would prefer to keep Mary. Does the FMLA oblige us to let Mary go and bring Jane back? ...
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05/06/2008
Q. We recently could not reach an employee who works off-site. Then we learned he was responding to customer messages by saying he was on vacation. After we learned this, he contacted his supervisor and said he had been on vacation and would be on vacation the rest of the week. His supervisor reports that he had not requested vacation time beforehand—and our policy states that vacation time must be preapproved. This employee had been a marginal performer, and now his supervisor wants to fire him. Can we fire him for this? ...
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05/06/2008
Q. Some of our employees are teenagers who work part time while they go to school. Often, this is their first job. Some of them don’t seem to understand proper behavior in the work environment. They usually are OK with customers, but when they are interacting with each other, they give each other a hard time. Verbal put-downs and even physical acts are common. Does this create any potential problems? ...
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