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Joseph Beachboard

“We fired an employee after he gave two weeks’ notice: Must we pay for those two weeks?”

05/04/2010
Q. “Say a resigning employee gives two weeks’ notice but we decide to terminate the employee right away instead. Are we still obligated to pay the person for those two weeks he gave notice for?” — S.F., Texas

“Can an employer put limits on references for ex-employees?”

04/27/2010
Q. “I am wondering if there are any rules/regulations/laws about putting limits on the references we give for previous employees. For example, can we say we’ll only give references up to three years after they leave, or give no more than five references for each ex-employee?” — S.S., Virginia

Are arbitration agreements a good idea?

04/19/2010
Q. “I hear that some employers have employees sign arbitration agreement documents. Can you give me information on that?” — D.K., Oklahoma

Can we deduct from pay to replace equipment our employee damaged?

04/19/2010
Q. We have an employee whose company-provided laptop fell and broke while he was working from home. Can we deduct the cost of the computer from the employee’s paycheck?

“Can we avoid overtime by paying employee as an independent contractor for a ‘second’ job?”

04/13/2010
Q. “We have an employee who works in our shipping department 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  After 5 p.m., he spends two to three hours cleaning the bathrooms, offices and lunch room. We, of course, would not like to have to pay overtime for these hours he works cleaning. He punches out at 5 p.m. and I pay him separately as an independent contractor for his cleaning hours. I have been told by our CFO that we cannot do this for overtime reasons. Can we?” — M.M., North Carolina

Now he tells us he’s disabled! Must we still accommodate with a flexible schedule?

04/09/2010
Q. Our employment application asks applicants if they are capable of satisfactorily performing the essential job duties required of the position for which they are applying. We hired a worker who later told us that he has a medical condition that prevents him from coming to work on time and, on some days, coming to work at all. Are we required to accommodate this individual?

“In rehire decision, can we take personality and attitude into account?”

04/05/2010
Q. “We will be rehiring some of our laid-off personnel. Not all of them have the same attitude and personality that are desired. Can we take into account those characteristics in our rehire decision? Those characteristics weren’t always supported in the ex-employee’s personnel file.” — L.A., Arkansas

Is it legally risky to celebrate employees’ birthdays in the office?

03/23/2010
Q. “Can we celebrate employees’ birthdays in the office? Someone said it could be against the law for identity theft reasons.” — P.A.

How should we calculate FMLA leave entitlement for employee whose schedule varies?

03/19/2010
Q. One of our employees works different hours each week—sometimes 30 hours a week, sometimes 40. She will be going on FMLA leave soon. We’re not sure how to determine how many hours of leave she would be entitled to take under the FMLA. Are all employees permitted to take 480 hours of leave?

Can we use a tip credit to make sure our employees make at least the minimum wage?

03/19/2010
Q. It has been our practice to pay our waiters and waitresses less than the minimum wage because we include their tips in their hourly wage. Is this legal?