Privacy

Employee wants FMLA leave: Can we contact her health care provider?

02/12/2009

Q. When one of our employees requested FMLA leave, we asked for medical certification of a substantial health condition from her health care provider. We received the form, but cannot read some of the physician’s handwriting and do not understand some of the responses. We also need additional information not requested in the medical certification form. Can we seek clarification from the health care provider?

How do courts approach enforcement of noncompete agreements?

02/12/2009

Q. My company requires new employees to sign a two-year noncompete agreement. Are such agreements enforceable?

New law on privacy in place: How to comply

02/05/2009

If you haven’t already taken appropriate measures to comply with New York’s new privacy law that took effect in January, do so now before the Commissioner of Labor moves to assess civil penalties. Amendments to the New York Labor Law now require employers to protect employees from identity theft and other potential privacy problems.

Go ahead and set up employee surveillance, but be careful how you pick your spots

02/02/2009

What should you do if you suspect an employee is goofing off at work or perhaps sleeping at his desk? One employer recently took the high-tech approach to that problem, setting up a surveillance camera to catch an employee in the act. It worked, but it took a trip to court to finally put this case to bed.

Inside job: Did Houston firm swipe trade secrets?

02/02/2009

Multinational materials processing company Saint-Gobain is suing a Houston competitor, Centronic LLC, and two former Saint-Gobain employees, alleging they illegally brought proprietary information with them when they went to work for Centronic.

Don’t assume privacy clause guarantees privacy

01/15/2009

Some employers include a privacy clause in their applications and handbooks that tells employees they can opt out of having their names and addresses released to third parties. However, if a worker who is suing for wage-and-hour violations wants to get his hands on employee names and contact information for the purpose of building a class-action case, those privacy clauses can’t stop it.

Workers gone wild … and the legal lessons to be learned

01/06/2009

Employees do the darnedest things, and HR frequently winds up trying to undo the damage. One of the highlights of HR Specialist’s upcoming Labor and Employment Law Advanced Practices Symposium will be a session on “The Most Bizarre Recent Workplace Cases—and What You Can Learn from Them.” Here’s our take on the topic, with cases pulled from the pages of HR Specialist newsletters.

State snoopers disciplined for ‘Joe the Plumber’ inquiries

01/05/2009

Three top managers at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services were suspended without pay for using state databases to spy on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher of “Joe the Plumber” fame.

More snooping, followed by bill

01/05/2009

Verizon Wireless admitted in November that company employees snuck a peek at the personal cell phone records of President-elect Barack Obama … Amid ongoing spy reports, the Ohio House of Representatives approved a bill in December designed to safeguard taxpayers’ personal data.

A matter of trust: 4 ways to defend against employee disloyalty

12/31/2008

North Carolina, like many states, recognizes that employees owe a certain level of duty to their employers. However, the North Carolina Supreme Court has specifically rejected any independent liability for breaching such duty.