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

Q&A

How to assign FMLA leave to a reluctant employee

04/01/2008
Q. What happens if an employee takes sick or vacation leave and we want to run out his FMLA leave? We think he has a qualifying condition, but he won’t get medical certification because he doesn’t want the time used for FMLA. — R.W.D., Georgia …

Handling a disability claim: step by step

04/01/2008
Q. We recently terminated an employee who couldn’t get his work done on time (and basically couldn’t sit still). He had told his supervisor before that he had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but that wasn’t taken into consideration. Now he’s threatening to sue. Are we at risk, and should we settle? — A.L., Connecticut …

Privacy issues and e-Mail monitoring

04/01/2008
Q. We would like to monitor e-mail usage at our workplace. Can we access employee e-mail without violating their rights to privacy? …

At-Will employment and our ability to fire

04/01/2008
Q. We are a small company with fewer than 10 employees. We would like to terminate an employee who is pulling down workplace morale. What are the risks? …

Recapturing health insurance premiums following FMLA leave

04/01/2008
Answers to 3 questions about recovering health insurance premiums.

Defending ourselves in small claims court

04/01/2008
Q. A former employee has filed a claim against our company in small claims court for unpaid wages. Can the HR manager handle this, or must we hire a lawyer? …

Who pays for pre-Employment medical exams?

04/01/2008
Q. We require new employees to undergo pre-employment medical exams. May we require a new employee to cover the cost of the exam? We have 35 employees …

Are noncompete agreements enforceable in the medical profession?

04/01/2008
Q. I run a physician’s group, and one of our new doctors has informed me that a noncompetition agreement for physicians is unenforceable in North Carolina. Is that true? …

Double dipping? Severance payments and unemployment compensation

04/01/2008
Q. May a terminated employee receiving payments under a severance agreement also receive unemployment benefits? …

Deducting stolen funds from paychecks

04/01/2008
Q. My company terminated an employee suspected of stealing from her cash drawer. May we subtract the missing amount from her final paycheck? …