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Ask the Attorney Archives

How do we respond to a request to rework a letter detailing a resignation?

05/19/2014

Q: “An employee recently resigned and wanted me to write a letter for his attorney to prove that he no longer works for our company. I hesitated to write the letter, however I did. The letter stated that he resigned from our company and gave the specific date of resignation; now his attorney wants another letter stating that he is no longer employed with our company and to leave the “resigned” portion out of the letter. Should I write another letter the way the attorney has requested, or just leave it as it has been written? His attorney has not personally contacted me regarding this matter.” – Tara, Texas

When a worker gives notice, can we cut off the PTO stream?

05/12/2014

Q: “An employee plans to terminate her employment with our company. She has given a two-week notice. Do I need to continue accruing PTO time for the last two weeks for her?” — Marcia, Michigan

How do we count employees to determine compliance thresholds?

05/12/2014

Q: “What constitutes a count of 50 or more employees? I currently have 46 employees. Of these, 12 are part-time (35 hours or less).” – Debbie, New York

Personal tech devices in the workplace: What should our limits be?

05/12/2014

Q: “Does the state of Texas have any guidelines on personal use of electronic devices while at work? We have employees who are bringing in laptops and personal cellphones to play games and entertain themselves when they have other job duties they should be performing.” – Valerie, Texas

My company wants to control my LinkedIn profile! Does it have the right?

05/05/2014

Q: “I have a LinkedIn profile and I just received this message from one of my bosses: ‘Hello colleagues, you are receiving this email because you have a profile on LinkedIn that requires your attention. You have left your profile in the default mode, signifying you are open to receiving career opportunities, consulting offers, new ventures and/or job inquiries. If you do not uncheck these items, we will assume that you are turning in your two-week notice and are looking for a new job opportunity … Also, if you have not listed your current employer as (Company Name Here) exactly as such, please do so.’ Is this legal, and do I have to comply?” – Concerned, Idaho

How much can a supervisor inquire about an employee’s reason for FMLA leave?

05/05/2014

Q: “Our Human Resources Department processes Family and Medical Leave Act paperwork and tracks FMLA use. When HR receives the completed Certification of Health Care Provider form, does the supervisor whom the employee reports to have the right to see the form and/or know the medical reason for the FMLA leave, or do they just need to know that the employee is covered under the FMLA and how long it is anticipated that they will be out?” – Ann, Illinois

Disabled employee can’t make enough client visits–how do we accommodate?

04/28/2014
Q: “We are a not-for-profit company. We have an employee who was moved to part-time status last year because of grant funding cuts. We have now received all the funding back, so we can return her to full-time status (37.5 hrs. per week). She has a disability and has restrictions on the amount of hours she can work per week, which is 32. This makes it difficult to visit all her clients each week, and she also admits it would be difficult. Do we have any recourse? We do not have the staffing or budget to move clients from this employee to another to fit the 32-hour workweek, or to put her on an LOA and still pay benefits.” – Ann, Illinois 

Should we have fired this employee because of her boyfriend’s harassing behavior?

04/28/2014
Q: “Recently, an abusive boyfriend sent nude photos of our employee to other employees. As soon as we knew this occurred, we blocked the email address and deleted everything related from our server. Now we have complaints that we should have fired the employee. We did not. In fact, we permitted FMLA leave due to the depression and trauma she suffered. How would you advise we handle these complaints?” – Pat, Maryland

Teleworker is moving her home base–how does this affect us?

04/28/2014
Q: “We are a company based in Brownsville, Texas and we have an employee who works remotely from home in Houston, TX. She will be moving with her husband to California. We would like to keep her employed but need guidance on how to handle her employment if she resides in California.” – Cindy, Texas

Are there any hidden privacy issues involved in revealing where people work?

04/28/2014

Q: “Can an employee tell another person that a certain person works at his office with him?” – Roland, Texas