Q. Our company has been having financial difficulties and we have considered reorganizing for several months. Our chief operating officer has been charged with determining whether any of the current jobs can be eliminated. Recently, before any final reorganization decisions were made, an employee came forward claiming that the COO had been harassing her and had created a hostile work environment ...

In Minnesota, employees are supposed to be paid promptly and receive an accounting of their time worked. Failure to comply may mean you’ll have to pay a penalty.

Employees who steal from their employers violate their duty of loyalty. That makes them ineligible for unemployment compensation. That’s true even if the theft is small. But you must be prepared with clear testimony if you want to contest the worker’s right to unemployment benefits.

Sometimes, an employee’s absence may show you that she isn’t as good at her job as you thought. If that’s the case for an employee out on FMLA leave, you can terminate her—as long as you carefully document the reasons and are prepared to show that you would have terminated her even if she hadn’t taken leave.

Here’s some good news: As long as you are willing to accommodate an employee’s medical condition, you won’t face liability for unemployment compensation if she quits. And the employee has to tell you she needs that accommodation. If she just quits, she won’t be eligible.

Some things are best left unsaid. That includes any comments about how hard it must be for a mother to have a career and raise children. Tell managers to keep the topic out of their office chitchat.

Disabled employees may be en­­titled to some time off as an accommodation, but there are limits. If an employee is constantly absent when his disability makes it impossible to work, you may be able to discharge him. That’s because attendance can be an essential function of a job—and constantly missing work may show that the employee can’t perform that essential function.

It’s OK to fire someone whose medical problems clearly don’t qualify as a serious health condition under the FMLA.

A cardinal HR rule: Everyone who breaks the same rule should receive the same punishment. That doesn’t mean a frequent rule-breaker can’t be punished more harshly.

It can be frustrating to deal with an employee who has constant attendance problems. But if that employee has a serious health condition entitling him to FMLA leave, there’s really nothing you can do, no matter how inconvenient and disruptive his absences are.

Many HR professionals spend time agonizing over whether to fire someone they believe broke a rule warranting discharge. Could they have been wrong about the facts? Relax. There’s no need to second-guess yourself endlessly. Instead, conduct a prompt and thorough investigation and make a decision.

The ADA doesn’t cover everyone who has any kind of medical problem. Even something like complete deafness in one ear may not be enough to make an employee disabled.

First impressions are important, but when it comes to preventing employment lawsuits, it’s typically the last impression that employees have at work that matters most. Terminations are the biggest flashpoint for employment lawsuits, and it’s where supervisors and HR professionals seem to make the most mistakes.

In almost every case, clearly documented poor performance will trump discrimination allegations. That’s especially true if you can offer examples going back a reasonable period of time.