Practical HR Tips, News & Advice. Updated Daily.
We fingerprint employees and run a background check if they are going to be working with or near children. (We do it for current employees if they are transferring to such a job.) Are we required to provide these applicants/employees with the results of their fingerprint background checks?
I have a question about determining the exempt or nonexempt status of our lowest-level managers. We think they are exempt, but we’ve read about some pretty expensive lawsuits and want to avoid that. We classify these employees as exempt, and they seem happy enough with that designation. Most of them are eager to move up […]
If I discover an employee on a long and obviously non-business-related phone call, can I interrupt and tell the employee to hang up? Our policy does not explicitly prohibit personal calls, but is there some way to discourage them? — Anonymous
A group of our employees has asked us to sponsor a softball team this spring. Management is all for it, but asked me to dig a bit into what problems might arise. Can you help? Are there workers’ comp issues? Liability if someone gets hurt? And what about alcohol?
We’re considering moving to a Paid Time Off (PTO) program instead of our current separate bundles of vacation, sick time, and personal leave, and we have a bunch of questions. When companies make this switch, do they just add up the number of days and then lump them all together? Impose any restrictions on taking […]
Can you clarify for me what a probationary period means in terms of our legal rights as an employer? I thought that if we had a 90-day probationary period, that meant we could easily terminate a new employee without any legal hassles. But I went to a conference, and the speaker said that a) we […]
One of our employees just quit-two weeks after finishing an expensive monthlong training program that we paid for. We also paid her salary while she was in training. Can we somehow force this ex-employee to reimburse us? Is there some way to set up a policy or contract with new trainees that protects us from […]
Suppose an employee takes time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for his or her own serious health condition, and you require a healthcare provider’s certification confirming the need for leave. After a year goes by, the employee needs additional leave for the same health problem. Can you require this person to […]
In the November 2005 issue of the California Employer Advisor, we reported on a case that highlighted the tension between the requirements of California disability bias law, the state Compassionate Use Law, and the federal Controlled Substance Act, which criminalizes drug use and possession. The case involved an employee who was refused employment after he tested positive […]
The Internal Revenue Service has issued the 2006 standard mileage rate commonly used to reimburse employees for the business use of a vehicle. The new rate will be 44.5 cents per mile, beginning Jan. 1, 2006.