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

Q&A

Accept FMLA proof from foreign doctors

01/01/2007

Q. Many of my employees request FMLA leave to return to their native countries to care for sick relatives, or they request personal medical leave due to a “sudden illness” that occurs while visiting those countries. In some cases, these countries don’t have regulated physicians. Documents can be easily obtained from any street vendor. Are U.S. employers required to accept these documents? —L.W.

Can you convert all employees to nonexempt?

01/01/2007

Q. For years, we’ve always had salaried employees. But we have many employees who always come in late and leave early. This is hard to track. We are thinking of making them hourly employees and getting a time clock. If I make them all hourly employees, I know that I have to pay overtime, but it might be worth it. Can I legally change their status from exempt to hourly, or are some employees required to be salaried? —B.B., New York

Do holidays count toward FMLA leave?

01/01/2007

Q. Are holidays that fall within the scheduled FMLA leave counted as leave? —L.F., Washington

Offering health coverage only to select employees

01/01/2007

Q. We currently provide health insurance for 20 employees who work full time (40 hours per week all year). We have some clerical staff who work less than 40 hours per week and aren’t eligible for insurance. We also have professional tax preparers who work many hours during tax season, but only 10 to 20 hours the rest of the year. Can we legally add just the tax preparers to our health insurance and not the clerical staff? —R.M., Pennsylvania

Moonlighting policy: What’s the best language?

01/01/2007

Q. We are a not-for-profit agency working with developmentally disabled clients. Some of our therapists moonlight with private patients. Should we allow this? If not, how would we word a policy statement forbidding it? —B.B., Maryland

Can you require workers to join the health plan?

01/01/2007

Q. Can we require employees to be on our health insurance plan? We’re a small business and to meet the requirements for group insurance, we require all employees that aren’t covered by a spouse’s policy to enroll. We pay 75 percent of the premium. —G.P., Oklahoma

Can we deduct uniform costs from paychecks?

01/01/2007

Q. We require new employees to buy their top uniform from a uniform company. The uniforms vary depending on the position and have the company’s logo on them. The uniform typically costs between $20 and $45 and is a smock, polo shirt or vest. The employees can deduct that amount from their paychecks or pay for it by personal check or credit card. As the HR manager, I take care of this process for them. Is this procedure legal under Texas law? —D.S.

Second Opinion on Fitness-for-Duty Certificate

01/01/2007

Q. We have an employee returning from FMLA leave. His physician issued a fitness-for-duty certificate, but we question the worker’s ability to perform his old job because the length of his absence was too short for him to recover completely. Further, the fitness-for-duty certificate simply states that he is “able” to work, without addressing his specific job duties. Can we send him to another physician for a second fitness-for-duty examination? —A.L.

Pregnancy shouldn’t affect employees’ discipline

01/01/2007

Q. If an employee is already on probation when she becomes pregnant, how does an employer continue with progressive discipline measures, including possible discharge? —P.A.

Must we give a fired employee his personnel file?

01/01/2007

Q. I recently discharged an employee for performance problems. At the end of the termination meeting, he asked for a copy of his personnel file. Do I have to give discharged employees a copy of their personnel files? —B.N.