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Carl Crosby Lehmann

Hiring employees from competitor

03/14/2011
Q. We are hiring a high-level employee who will come to us from our major competitor. She has no noncompete agreement with her current employer. Is that our only risk?

Must we pay for lactation breaks?

03/14/2011
Q. We run a manufacturing plant. Our break policy allows employees to take up to two breaks each shift to use the restroom. As long as the employees return to their posts within 10 minutes, the breaks are paid. We have an employee who is nursing and using her breaks to express breast milk. This usually takes about 15 minutes each break. Can we treat these breaks as unpaid?

Is it OK to pay an exempt employee an hourly wage for taking on nonexempt work?

03/14/2011
Q. We recently advertised internally for a current employee to do six to eight hours per week of office cleaning for an hourly wage. An exempt employee responded indicating that he would like the extra pay. Is it OK to pay him the hourly rate for his share of the cleaning work in addition to his salary?

How do we legally correct errors on I-9s?

03/10/2011
Q. I found some minor errors in our I-9 forms. For example, some have signatures on the wrong line. Is it legal to correct the errors or do I need to have the forms filled out again? If I do new forms, should I back-date them?

Can we require employee to use Medicare?

03/04/2011
Q. We have an older employee who is now eligible for Medicare. Can we require him to take Medicare coverage instead of our health plan?

Can we make employee cover up her tattoos?

02/24/2011
Q. One of our employees has tattoos on her upper arms. She usually wears long sleeves, but summer is coming. Can we require her to cover the tattoos? We don’t have any kind of a dress code, but would implement one if it meant she had to cover them.

Can workers use FMLA and sick leave back-to-back?

02/16/2011
Q. One of our employees thinks she will need about five months off for medical treatment. She wants to use her accumulated vacation and sick time and then go on FMLA leave. Do I have to allow this?

How can I discipline exempt staff for poor work?

02/15/2011
Q. After the holidays, our hourly employees returned to pre-holiday productivity. But our exempt employees didn’t. What can I do since their salaries aren’t dependent on how many hours they work?

Must we accommodate ‘alternative’ religions?

02/10/2011
Q. We gave three Muslim employees a prayer area and time off to pray. This seems to have given others ideas. We had two religious accommodation requests for time off and dress code modifications. But I’ve never heard of their “religion.” Can I ask more about it?

Should we forbid supervisors from becoming their subordinates’ friend on Facebook?

02/09/2011
Q. A supervisor recently asked if he was allowed to accept a subordinate’s “friend” request on Facebook. How should we advise our supervisors?