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Carl Crosby Lehmann

How risky is it to fire a pregnant employee having attendance problems?

06/20/2013
Q. An employee has been with us for less than a year, so she isn’t yet eligible for FMLA leave. Last month she missed five days because her child had a high fever. She used available PTO for the time off. Last week, she was no-call/no-show for three days. She told the supervisor she had been hospitalized because of pregnancy complications and didn’t have access to a phone and was sedated. She provided a doctor’s note that released her to return to work, but stated that she may need to be put on bed rest. The supervisor would like to terminate her because we can’t afford to continue employing someone so unreliable. Can we do this?

What happens next? An alleged harassment victim doesn’t want to come forward

06/20/2013
Q. An employee confided in a regional VP that their boss had invited a co-worker to have a drink in his hotel room while they were attending a conference. When she declined, the boss became angry. Now, the boss has reported the co-worker for leaving work early without permission. The employee doesn’t want anything bad to happen to her friend, but she can’t let this go without telling someone. The co-worker refuses to come forward herself out of fear of retaliation. What should we do?

What can we tell co-workers about a new employee’s sex change and transgender status?

05/30/2013
Q. We recently hired an experienced salesperson. Dur­­ing her orientation, she told HR that she recently underwent a sex change procedure and that she is transgender. A few days later, another employee went to HR and explained that he had known the salesperson in a previous job before her sex change. This employee is clearly uncomfortable and asked for advice on what he can say to the new employee and others on the team about their former working relationship?

Is it OK to volunteer for your own nonprofit?

05/10/2013
Q. I work for a nonprofit organization. Several hourly employees of the organization volunteer during nonworking hours. Is that OK?

Should we go ahead with layoffs–including someone who complained about harassment?

05/10/2013
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 …

Employees sent on weekend training time: Does that affect their overtime pay?

04/26/2013

Q. We sent a few employees to training over a weekend. They weren’t required to attend, but the course will help them do their jobs better. We paid the hourly ­workers for that time, but not overtime. Do we owe them overtime if they worked 40 hours before the training session?


Workers ignoring our time clock rules: Can we dock their pay?

04/23/2013
Q. Many of our 60 employees fail to correctly clock in or out and it’s creating major payroll issues. I’ve met with employees who are chronic time-clock abusers and placed warnings in their files. Can we dock an employee for failing to clock in or out?

Can refusing to renew contract trigger bias case?

04/18/2013

Q. As a small college, we employ quite a few adjunct in­structors, especially for night classes. They work on a term-to-term contract for specific courses. One instructor got a very poor review and we’d like to ease him out. He’s making noises about age discrimination. If we don’t renew his contract but instead use a younger, fresh-out-of-grad-school instructor, could he have a case?

Employee wants an ergonomic desk: Does ADA require that we provide it?

04/16/2013

Q. One of our employees claims he needs an ergonomic desk for health reasons. He seems physically fit and goes “Jeeping” on the weekends. Do we have to start the whole accommodations process?

How do part-timers affect ADA, MHRA thresholds?

04/11/2013
Q. We currently have 15 employees, but several work part time. Are we required to provide reasonable accommodations under the ADA or the MHRA?