Ask the Attorney Archives

Q: “Should our company permit an employee (also a union steward) who is granted time off under FMLA to continue to come to the workplace to perform union duties?” – Kathie, Pennsylvania

Q: “I counseled an employee who had a confrontation with another manager. After the meeting with both of them, I was told that the employee recorded our entire meeting using her cellphone. I told her that if this was true, she should erase it, as she didn’t have our permission to record us, and since patients’ names were mentioned, she is violating our confidentiality (HIPAA) policies. The employee filed for unemployment two days later claiming she was fired, but the decision to let her go was not made until a week later. Was it legal to record us without permission, and could she file for unemployment thinking she might be fired?” – Anonymous, Pennsylvania

Q: “We have been told that an employee is recording workplace conversations with co-workers as well as members of management. Can we ban recording devices from our manufacturing buildings? We have manufacturing operations in South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri, and we have repair facilities in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indiana and Kansas.” – Anonymous, South Dakota

Q: “If an employee makes four mistakes in a short period of time, can the employer ask, ‘Is everything OK at home?’ Actually, the mistakes were not made in a short time frame, but were discovered in the same month. One error was generated over a year ago, another a couple of months ago, one was a matter of preference (not really an error), etc. This is office work, not a factory production line, and not a safety issue.” – Susan, North Carolina