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Employment Law

Can we require psychological counseling?

09/23/2009

Q. Can we require an employee to receive psychological counseling or treatment if his behavior has become a hindrance to his job performance?

Must we pay employees to change their clothes?

09/23/2009

Q. Do we have to pay employees for the time they spend changing into their uniforms before work and out of their uniforms afterward? We’re a hospital and our operating-room personnel must change clothes.

Warn employees: We’re monitoring your e-mail

09/21/2009

California employees have a constitutional right to privacy. That doesn’t mean, however, that employers can’t monitor e-mail sent to and from company computers and servers. The key: a policy that makes it clear that transmittals are not private.

Adopt civility policy, punish disruptive behavior

09/21/2009

The workplace is meant for working, and employers have the right to expect their employees to behave themselves. You can and should demand that all your employees treat each other, customers, supervisors and everyone else with dignity. If you don’t already have a civility rule, consider adopting one.

Opinion letter: OK to cut hours, pay of exempt employees

09/21/2009

A California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement opinion letter has given the green light to an increasingly common employment practice in today’s fragile economy: Cutting exempt employees’ normal workweeks and then paying them proportionately less.

Review privacy and surveillance policies in light of new California Supreme Court ruling

09/21/2009

The California Supreme Court has ruled in a case involving video camera surveillance and employee privacy rights. The court said employees do indeed have a right to considerable privacy at work, but that in this particular case the employer had acted reasonably and limited the surveillance to what was necessary under the circumstances.

Employee announces she’s pregnant? Say ‘Congratulations!’ … and nothing more

09/21/2009

There’s only one safe way to respond to an employee’s pregnancy announcement—and that’s a simple “Congratulations!” Anything else may spell trouble down the line, especially if the pregnant woman ends up being terminated. She’ll probably sue and try to tie any negative comments to the termination, arguing they demonstrate pregnancy bias.

It takes two to have an argument—suspend both when beefs get out of hand

09/21/2009

It’s a fact of life: Employees get into arguments at work. Obviously, you can’t let a situation get out of hand. But be careful how you discipline the individuals. That’s especially important if there’s no clear evidence about who said what to whom. If you decide to suspend one employee, suspend the other one, too.

Testifying for subordinate may be protected activity

09/21/2009

Supervisors who stand up for subordinates when they claim they have been discriminated against may be engaging in “protected activity.” That could make punishing those supervisors retaliation.

State law—not local ordinance—may govern worker retention

09/21/2009

The Court of Appeal of California has refused to reinstate a Los Angeles ordinance that tried to force some employers to retain the employees of businesses they acquired. The case may signal a judicial effort to rein in municipal regulation of California companies.