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Showing posts for: Kara Craig

Oct 07 2024
Harassment & DiscriminationQ&ATermination & Resignation

Q&A: Words matter when communicating a termination decision

Question: We have several reasons to terminate a long-term employee whose performance and attitude have declined to the point of no return, but we don’t have good documentation. He says he cannot wait to retire but has not given us a date. We’d like to keep his termination amicable, acknowledging his length of service with…

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Sep 03 2024
Harassment & DiscriminationLabor RelationsWage and Hour

Q&A: Decide now on political speech standards at work

Question: We are in another heated election season and a few of our employees are known to share their political opinions at lunchtime. Not everybody likes it. Are we allowed to keep politics out of the workplace to avoid conflict and preserve what team spirit we have left? Answer: Yes. Private employers can prohibit political…

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Aug 09 2024
Harassment & DiscriminationQ&A

Q&A: Off-the-job social media posts can be illegal harassment

Question: One of our employees reported that a coworker is engaging in sexual harassment by posting offensive content on Instagram. The accused employee has over 100 followers who work for us. Do we need to monitor everything our employees say and “like” online? Shouldn’t she just unfollow him? How do we handle this? Answer: Ordinarily an…

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Jul 12 2024
Leave LawsQ&AWage and Hour

Q&A: Don’t get fooled by public employee protections

Question: One of our employees sent me a copy of a state regulation they say entitles them to a leave of absence that is not provided for by our policies, or any law that I am aware of. It looks legit, though, and they are insistent. How did we miss this? Answer: You may not…

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Feb 09 2024
Disability

Q&A: Evaluate request for permanent remote work under ADA

Question: During the pandemic, we allowed some employees to work from home on a case-by-case basis. We brought everyone back to the office gradually and our policy now requires all administrative personnel to work onsite. One of our admin employees who worked remotely has requested to work from home permanently due to a chronic health…

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Jan 29 2024
Labor RelationsTermination & ResignationWage and Hour

Q&A: Employees can discuss wages with each other

Question: Two of our employees accessed confidential payroll files and now are loudly complaining they are the lowest-paid employees in the company. Their manager is upset and wants to fire them for breach of trust, disrupting our business operations, and hurting morale. The whole department is demanding a raise. What can we do here? Answer:…

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Jan 15 2024
Harassment & Discrimination

Q&A: Religious beliefs don’t have to be mainstream to be protected

Question: An employee recently asked to be permanently exempted from working overtime on Saturdays, which is a requirement that applies to all production workers. He told me that Saturday is a holy day based on his own personal religious beliefs, but he’s not part of any organized congregation. Do we have to go through the…

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Dec 22 2023
Uncategorized

No undue hardship for religious accommodation request

A federal district court in Arizona recently barred an employer from using the undue hardship defense at trial to justify its denial of an employee’s request for time off due to his religious beliefs. The employee requested 1.5 unpaid days off to attend a 4-day Elders Training related to his Jehovah’s Witness faith. The employer…

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Dec 07 2023
DisabilitySafety and Health

Employee’s service dog posed direct threat to safety at hospital

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that a hospital did not have to allow a nursing student to bring a service dog to work under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because the accommodation created a direct threat to health and safety. A nursing student was assigned to work at the hospital…

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Nov 16 2023
Harassment & DiscriminationPrivacy & ConfidentialityQ&A

Q&A: Internal management communications aren’t confidential

Question: For weeks our management team has been trading internal emails discussing why we need to terminate an employee who isn’t meeting performance standards. In the most recent email thread, one manager said that he wants to move more quickly to fire the employee because the employee reported workplace harassment a few days ago and…

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Sep 21 2023
Leave LawsWage and Hour

Q&A: May need to adjust workload during FMLA leave

Q&A: May need to adjust workload during FMLA leave Question: We granted intermittent leave to a full-time employee under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). They normally work five days a week and expect to miss work about one day a week for the next six months. The employee says they can’t meet…

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Jul 20 2023
Q&A

Q&A: Archiving old policies and handbooks

Question: We just updated our employee handbook and distributed it to employees. Is there any reason to retain the prior version? Answer: Yes! HR should save a copy of every handbook or policy that is distributed to employees and clearly note the effective dates of each version. The company may be required to produce this…

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