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Employment Law

References: Stick to Facts

06/01/2002

Q. An employer asked us for job verification on an employee we fired. It has a written consent form from the worker allowing the query. Can I release any and all information regarding the ex-employee’s history with us? —R.F., Colorado

State Laws Govern Access to Personnel Files

06/01/2002

Q. What’s the law on letting employees review all their personnel files? Can we prevent it? —J.S., Utah

Dual-Method Time Sheets OK

06/01/2002

Q. Our nonsupervisory, hourly employees punch in using a time clock. Our supervisors write timecards. Is this dual method acceptable or could it lead to legal trouble? —A.N., New Hampshire

New risk: Promotion without pay

05/01/2002
After her male supervisor retired, Lynda Hunt was promised a raise and a new job title if she’d take on some of her ex-supervisor’s duties. She agreed and began training, disciplining …

‘Emotional caregivers’ win FMLA coverage

05/01/2002
Truck driver Joseph Scamihorn Jr. saw his 73-year-old father fall into a deep depression soon after his daughter, Joseph’s sister, was murdered. After notifying his employer, Scamihorn left his job for …

Toughen your hiring policy to help neutralize union ‘salts’

05/01/2002
In applying for a job with a heating and air conditioning company, an applicant stated that he had been laid off from his previous job. But the truth was that the …

Employees have no privacy claim to company-supplied home PC

05/01/2002
For 12 years, a senior insurance executive used two company- provided computers, one at the office and one at his home. He had signed his company’s computer policy, agreeing to use …

Court can enforce flextime, ‘quiet time’ as accommodations

05/01/2002
A file clerk who suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, a recognized disability, was easily distracted and had trouble completing her work. As an accommodation, she asked for permission to do some …

React fast, firmly to harassment; courts will reward your judgment

05/01/2002
A political cover-up usually gets people in bigger trouble than the crime itself. The same is true in the workplace. Trying to sweep employee misbehavior under the rug will only dig …

Draft bulletproof waiver deals with 6 court-approved benchmarks

05/01/2002
Courtney Melanson suffered two years of unwanted sexual advances by her supervisor at Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI). She took medical leave due to the stress and, when she returned, BFI assigned her …