Q. Our policy says that if employees are out due to illness or hospitalization for three days or more, they must provide a doctor’s note that includes a diagnosis. Someone said we can’t demand the diagnosis. Is this true?
Q. I know we have to provide milk-expression breaks for new moms, and we do. But now a new mother is having her mother bring the baby in twice a day to nurse. These breaks go more than 30 minutes as the baby is passed around, etc. Can we just tell her to express and refrigerate the milk?
Q. I’d like to institute a civility code that goes beyond the basic racial and sexual slurs to include any name-calling that is demeaning, crude or rude. What do you suggest as punishment?
Q. On three occasions, an employee threatened colleagues with physical violence. After the last incident, she explained to her manager that she is bipolar and going through a prescription change. She said she was unaware of making threats, was truly sorry and never meant any harm to anyone. Do we have to tolerate this behavior now that we know she may be disabled?
Some employers have recently begun to require employees and applicants to provide their passwords or otherwise allow access to their social media accounts. The Illinois Legislature has now put a stop to that practice.
The 7th Circuit has held that employees who participate in employer internal investigations before administrative charges or lawsuits have been filed are not protected from retaliation. It’s different, however, after such charges have been filed.