Q&A

Termination for viewing child porn

10/08/2008

Q. Our company has a strict Internet-use policy. During the course of routine computer maintenance and observation, our third-party IT provider advised us that one of our employees had been viewing child pornography in violation of our policy. We immediately terminated that employee. Is there anything else we should do regarding this employee’s violation of our company’s policy? …

Can I fire employees who may soon become competitors?

10/07/2008

Q. I just learned from a reliable source that two employees are going to start a similar business. Apparently, they have submitted paperwork that is based on the forms I used to create my own business. Is this grounds for termination? …

What should I do when fraud allegations surface?

10/07/2008

Q. A former employee is circulating a rumor that there has been some kind of fraud taking place at my business. What should I do? …

Can an employer deduct hours for employee meal breaks?

10/07/2008

Q. My company deducts 30 minutes from each day’s recorded time for employees’ meal periods. Is this proper? …

OK to waive workers’ comp?

10/07/2008

Q. Can an employee waive coverage under workers’ comp laws? …

How can we avoid wage-and-hour class action lawsuits?

10/07/2008

Q. I keep hearing about wage-and-hour class actions, where workers claim they were not paid properly because they were misclassified as exempt, not paid for all hours or not paid the correct overtime rate. What can I do to minimize this risk? …

What, if anything, should I do about off-work employee harassment?

10/07/2008

Q. An employee complained that co-workers made fun of her at an after-work bowling event. She says they made fun of her accent (she is an immigrant) and talked about sexual acts involving her. She is embarrassed now and does not want to work with the people involved. Do I need to look into this, or should I refuse because the incidents took place away from work? …

Q&A

Termination for viewing child porn

Can I fire employees who may soon become competitors?

What should I do when fraud allegations surface?

Can an employer deduct hours for employee meal breaks?

OK to waive workers’ comp?

How can we avoid wage-and-hour class action lawsuits?

What, if anything, should I do about off-work employee harassment?

Must we comply with a former employee’s request for thousands of e-mails?

Can someone who resigns get unemployment?

Pay for employee who works through lunch?

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