• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Q&A

Can a private ‘moral’ issue be the basis for terminating an employee?

08/27/2010
Q. Our church day care center hired a woman who—we later found out—was living with a man who was married to someone else. Our director had a moral problem with this situation and terminated her. I think the termination was illegal. Was it?

Is pay required for after-hours work functions?

08/27/2010
Q. Can we require full-time nonexempt employees to attend work-related functions after regular hours? If so, should this time be compensated?

Can I be personally liable for misclassification?

08/24/2010
Q. Let’s say I do the payroll for a company and know that we are misclassifying employees (exempt vs. nonexempt; independent contractors vs. employees). And let’s say I advised the owner, but he chose to leave it as is. Could I be held liable as the payroll administrator?

What elements need to be included in a claims waiver associated with a severance agreement?

08/23/2010
Q. We are considering providing an enhanced severance package to a group of employees if they agree to waive all potential claims against the company, including age discrimination claims. Are there any specific steps we need to take in connection with these releases?

Must we restructure job for injured worker?

08/23/2010
Q. One of our school employees hurt her back while assisting students in the classroom. She went out on workers’ comp and has now reached maximum improvement, according to her doctor. But she can’t do her old job. Do we have to provide another job for her?

What are the new regulations on paying for time employees spend changing clothes?

08/18/2010
Q. How has the recent DOL interpretation letter addressed an employer’s obligation to pay employees for time spent changing clothes?

Do we have new public works hiring rules?

08/18/2010
Q. What are the new hiring preference requirements on Illinois public works projects?

What are the rules for flexible spending accounts under the new health reform law?

08/18/2010
Q. How do the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Health Care and Education Tax Credits Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as the PPACA) affect health flexible spending accounts?

Does the FMLA apply when an employee has to care for a child she isn’t related to?

08/18/2010
Q. We have an employee who cares for a child but does not have a legal or biological relationship to the child. The employee wants to take a child-related leave under the FMLA. Is she eligible?

Military leave starts Tuesday: Pay for full week?

08/18/2010
Q. One of our exempt employees is in the Reserve. He is going on a two-week training session that starts on a Tuesday. That means he will work on Monday, the start of our week. Do we have to pay him for the whole week when he is only going to be here Monday?