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Q&A

Does a drug charge always warrant a drug screen?

02/13/2013

Q. If we see in the local paper that one of our employees has been charged with possession of an illegal substance, is that enough cause to have him take a drug screen? 

Could nonexempts’ use of smartphones cause wage-and-hour liability?

02/01/2013
Hourly employees’ use of smartphones (as well as online email access from remote locations) has boosted worker productivity. However, it has also substantially increased the risk of off-the-clock-work violations.

Could a negative reference be considered libel?

01/25/2013
Q. We fired an employee because she was chronically late, frequently missed work and had a poor working relationship with her colleagues. If we provide negative job references to prospective employers, could we be sued for libel?

Does the NLRA apply to nonunion employers?

01/25/2013
Q. If an employer is nonunion, must it abide by the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) rules and regulations?

Can not knowing how to read be a disability?

01/25/2013
Q. Is illiteracy considered a disability under the ADA? And if it is, what accommodations would we be expected to make, as an employer?

For pay statements, does ‘total hours worked’ include vacation and PTO?

01/22/2013
Q. We realize that California requires pay statements to show “total hours worked,” but we’re confused about what exactly this means. Does this include vacation or paid time off that employees have earned?

What should we do? Client asked us not to assign employee who is now out on workers’ comp

01/22/2013
Q. Our company provides services to nursing homes. One of our therapists recently went out on wor­k­­ers’ compensation leave. The facility where she worked has since asked us not to reassign the employee back to its facility. However, we don’t have other placement options for this worker. Do we have any options?

What are California’s rules on employee access to personnel records?

01/22/2013
Q. An employee has asked to see his records. How soon do we have to respond?

Can we set different dress codes for each department?

01/17/2013

Q. We are a retail company with about 200 employees. We have six different departments. The supervisors are not agreeing on an overall dress code. They wondered if there’s any legal risk in having each department make and follow its own dress code. (Everyone works in the same office space.) 

Background checks: How safe is too safe?

01/11/2013

Q. We are considering instituting a criminal background check policy for all employee positions. We’ve heard scary stories of lawsuits regarding negligent hiring, and we’d really like to avoid that sort of litigation, not to mention the negative media attention. Is there any downside to having an “across the board” criminal background check policy?