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ADA doesn’t give employee freedom to redefine his job

08/01/2004

Q. One of our employees has been out on disability leave for almost 16 months. He says he wants to return to work, but only if we give him a supervisory position without a lot of strenuous activity. We have no such position available. We’ve offered him other positions, but he’s refused them all. Can we legally terminate him? —L.B., North Carolina

You don’t have to accept after-the-fact proof of FMLA leave

07/01/2004
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires workers to give their employers notice of their need for leave. But you have the right to deny leave when the provided information …

You can set rules on when employees take vacation time

07/01/2004
While vacation time is a mainstay of basic benefit packages, employers are not legally required to offer paid vacation to employees. But if you do offer vacation time, don’t be afraid …

How to spot a dishonest purchasing manager

07/01/2004
Issue: Employees handling your organization’s purse strings could be pulling them in the wrong way. Risk: Lax controls leave your organization wide open to invoice fraud. Action: Suggest the …

Get tough with habitually absent employees

07/01/2004

Q. We have a new administrative employee in our pediatric office who missed 22 days of work in her first nine weeks. She has doctor excuses for illnesses for most of the days, but my front office is in shambles. Can I put her on written warning for excessive absences? Can I terminate her? —C.F., Georgia

Make Full-Day Deductions, Not Partial, for Exempt Staff

06/01/2004

Q. If an exempt employee uses all her sick time and vacation time, then takes a half day off for personal reasons, can I deduct for that half day, or does it have to be a whole day? Has that changed under the new law? —Barbara, Louisiana

Tell sick employees to stay home

06/01/2004
The sluggish economy of recent years has helped encourage more employees to show up at work, even while they’re sick. Nearly 77 percent of employees say they’ve shown up to …

Serious condition, not its symptoms, triggers FMLA

05/01/2004
The next time you consider a request for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), remember this: For employees to be covered under the FMLA for their own “serious …

Telecommuters eligible for FMLA? Geography may be irrelevant.

05/01/2004
An account executive who telecommuted from her California home office sued her Kansas-based employer, claiming she was fired after taking FMLA leave to recover from surgery. The company said she was …

Return pregnant employee to equivalent job

05/01/2004

Q. When an employee returns from maternity leave, do we have to give her the very same job she had or can she be put to work in a different type of position? —J.B., North Carolina