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Carl Crosby Lehmann

What are the criteria for unpaid internships?

03/14/2012
Q. We would like to hire a few college interns over the summer, but with our tight budget, I don’t think we can pay them. What rules apply to unpaid internships?

What if we can’t set up direct deposit fast enough to deliver final paycheck in time?

03/14/2012
Q. A recently terminated employee demanded immediate payment of his wages and asked us to directly deposit the check into his bank account. I know that Minnesota law requires us to pay the wages through the employee’s last day of employment within 24 hours of his demand. While this employee was normally paid through direct deposit, we cannot coordinate a direct deposit within 24 hours. Can we just send the employee a check by mail?

Must we reveal salary before offering promotion?

03/09/2012
Q. Do we have to tell employees exactly how much they will be making before we offer them a promotion?

Take a pay cut or leave: Is such a demand legal?

02/28/2012
Q. We’ve concluded that a small group of our employees don’t appreciate their jobs. We’d like to post their jobs and replace employees who won’t take a pay cut with unemployed people who will work for a lower wage. Is this a problem?

Does FMLA cover prenatal appointments?

02/09/2012
Q. One of our employees is expecting a baby and would like to count the time she spends at pregnancy-related doctor’s appointments as FMLA leave. Are we obligated to allow intermittent leave for doctor’s appointments?

Can Native Americans refuse to provide an SSN?

02/09/2012
Q. A new hire is refusing to provide his Social Secur­­ity number because he does not want taxes withheld from his paycheck. He argues that since he is Native American, the U.S. government is not entitled to tax him. Is he required to provide this information? Can we withdraw our employment offer if he continues to refuse?

OK to pay salary for nonexempt position?

02/09/2012
Q. We are hiring for a new position that does not meet any exemption under the Fair Labor Stand­­ards Act (FLSA). However, we think there will be more interest in the job if we pay a salary. Can we still compensate on a salary basis even if the position is nonexempt?

Must we rehire returning service members? We have already hired replacement workers

01/12/2012
Q. We have a number of employees who serve in the armed forces. Some have taken multiple leaves in recent years because they were called up for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. At least one has been gone for years. With the drawdown of troops in Iraq, we expect that several will want to return to our company, but we have had to hire people to replace them. Are we obligated to rehire them even if we don’t have an open position?

How should we handle difficult firing meeting?

12/14/2011
Q. We recently decided to terminate an employee based on performance concerns. The employee is in sales and is required to cold call a certain number of individuals each day. In reviewing the daily call logs, the employee’s manager discovered that she has been calling the same disconnected number over and over again … To top it off, she sent an email telling other employees they could do the same. In preparing for the termination meeting, I’m wondering what we should say?

Are reference checks a waste of time?

12/14/2011
Q. We are re-examining our applicant screening process. One idea we’re considering is eliminating calling previous employers for reference checks. We haven’t found those calls to be very helpful, because most former employers will only confirm dates of employment and job title. Is this a good idea?