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Q&A

Paying back ‘Borrowed’ vacation leave

03/01/2008

Q. We allow our employees to “borrow” unearned vacation time. Our policy provides that if employees quit or are terminated with a “negative” vacation balance, the amount that they owe us for the vacation time taken before it was earned will be deducted from their final pay. Can we do this? …

Fluctuating workweek

03/01/2008

Q. My work hours fluctuate a lot depending upon the flow of work. To help manage its cash flow, my employer asked me to sign an agreement where I would receive a set salary each workweek regardless of the number of hours I work. In weeks where I work more than 40 hours, I am paid half-time for overtime hours, instead of time and a half. Can my employer do this? My position is nonexempt …

Do employees have the right to access their personnel files?

03/01/2008

Q. One of our employees is having disagreements with his supervisor over performance issues. The employee has asked to see his personnel file. Does he have a legal right to see his file? …

Must we release former employees’ files?

03/01/2008

Q. I recently got a form in the mail, signed by a former employee, authorizing release of her personnel file to her attorney. Must I honor it? …

Must we release employee files in response to a subpoena?

03/01/2008
Q. We recently received a subpoena to turn over an employee’s personnel file. The employee is a party to a lawsuit; the company is not. Do we have to comply? Should we tell the employee?

What goes into a personnel file?

03/01/2008

Q. What kinds of information and documents should we keep in our personnel files? …

What to do with the ‘Informal’ personnel files our managers keep

03/01/2008

Q. In addition to the official personnel files we keep in HR, our supervisors keep informal or working files. Is this allowed? Does this practice present any concerns? …

The policy and legal implications of discussing compensation

03/01/2008

Q. We recently had salary adjustment, and some of our employees have been comparing their raises. But we have a policy that states that compensation matters are confidential. Executives have asked HR to speak to the offending employees and gently remind them about our policy. I am concerned that if I speak to any of the employees, the problem will just get worse. Ideas? …

What legal issues does GPS monitoring raise?

03/01/2008

Q. Our company would like to start a program where all sales employees will use cell phones that have GPS monitoring. We want to keep track of where employees are so we can make sure they make their sales calls in their own territories and are not wasting time. Is this OK to do? Must we tell employees about the GPS monitoring? What about tracking employees after hours? …

What if employees balk at new mandatory arbitration procedure?

03/01/2008

Q. We are considering adopting a new mandatory arbitration procedure. We are concerned that some of our employees won’t agree to the change in our policy. What should we do? Should we tell employees that they will be terminated if they don’t agree? Will employees be bound by the policy if they don’t agree and we don’t take any further action? …