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Employment Law

Stop relying on Social Security number as employee ID

09/01/2002
Identity theft is among the nation’s fastest-growing crimes, and your personnel files and other HR data can be gold mines for would-be thieves. Getting a Social Security number (SSN), in particular, …

Minimum wage: Brush up on your legal obligations

09/01/2002
THE LAW. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires virtually all employers to pay at least a minimum wage, now $5.15 an hour, to all nonexempt employees. Many states also …

Just Say No to Rescinded Resignation

09/01/2002

Q. We have an employee who submitted a dated, signed resignation letter but then changed her mind and wanted the letter back. She was not a good employee, but we let her rescind the letter because we thought we’d be on shaky legal ground. Could we have held her to it? —M.L., Ohio

Comp Time for Exempt Workers: A Slippery Slope

09/01/2002

Q. Is it legal to give our full-time, salaried employees extra time off from work due to meetings and extra workload responsibilities? —C.E., West Virginia

When Can You Fire a Disabled Worker?

09/01/2002

Q. We’ve had a disabled worker on staff for five years. He’s consistently absent or tardy and has trouble working with others and keeping up his job duties. We adjusted his hours, but his poor work forced us to reassign some of his duties and even hire another person to help carry the load. What can we do? —F.F., Texas

Rehiring ex-addict? Get proof of rehab

08/01/2002
Joel Hernandez had worked for Hughes Aircraft for 25 years when he tested positive for cocaine during a workplace drug test. Rather than be fired, he resigned. The company noted in …

Lax hiring process will cost you

08/01/2002
For nearly two years, Joyce Dennis worked in progressively more responsible jobs at a South Carolina hospital. But when she interviewed for a promotion to ER registration supervisor, the hiring manager …

Don’t wait for disabled to ask: Accommodation is two-way street

08/01/2002
Ray Birton, a cart gatherer and stockman at a Missouri Wal-Mart, occasionally forgot instructions and didn’t clock in and out correctly, resulting in paycheck errors. Birton’s mother gave his manager …

Tear down accommodation hurdles; don’t make worker formally apply

08/01/2002
When Howard Shapiro, a 15-year city employee, became disabled in a work accident, he couldn’t continue his paramedic job. So he made repeated requests for accommodations and identified several vacant positions …

Preach secular management: Train supervisors to shun religious bias

08/01/2002
When a city-run youth program hired Cheryl Campos as a counselor, it promised her a $10,000 bonus for support-group work as well as a promotion to assistant director within six months. …