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Pennsylvania

15 years after enactment, FMLA changing with the times

04/01/2008
The FMLA is undergoing change. In early 2008, Congress made the first significant amendments to the law since it was enacted almost 15 years ago in 1993. Only a few weeks later, the U.S. Labor Department published proposed changes to its FMLA regulations …

The wisdom of showing written performance reviews to employees

04/01/2008
Q. We usually don’t allow our employees to read or comment on their annual evaluations. Instead, we perform a performance review one-on-one and have them sign an acknowledgment that they have discussed their performance. Do we need to provide them with a copy of the evaluation? …

After a merger, must you draft new I-9s for all employees?

04/01/2008
Q. Our company is currently going through a merger. Are we required to complete a new I-9 employment eligibility form for each employee who worked for the other company, or are these employees “grandfathered” in? …

Can we dock vacation time if sick leave is exhausted?

04/01/2008
Q. If an employee is out sick but has already used up her sick leave hours, can we legally subtract from her vacation time instead? …

How to handle employee’s domestic abuse

04/01/2008
Q. There is an employee in our company who repeatedly comes in to work with injuries obviously suffered at the hand of her spouse. As an employer, do we have an obligation to alert authorities about at-home physical abuse of an employee? …

Collecting unpaid health insurance premiums after FMLA leave

04/01/2008
Q. One of our employees recently came back from FMLA leave. Before he left, we never agreed on the method by which he would pay his share of health insurance premiums. It’s been two months now, and the employee hasn’t mentioned it or attempted to pay us back. What can we do to collect the premium? …

Nipping threat of nepotism in the bud

04/01/2008
Q. Some employees have complained anonymously that an employee is receiving preferential treatment because she’s the niece of a manager. We would like to defuse the situation by transferring her to another office. Is this OK? …

Congrats on winning! Do you really want attorneys’ fees?

03/01/2008
Sometimes, when an employee files a frivolous suit, it’s tempting to seek payback. If you succeed in getting the litigation dismissed, why not insist the losing employee pay attorneys’ fees and court costs? Before you throw good money after bad, consider whether you want your attorneys to spend even more time trying to get the employee to cough up …

Paper trail cuts both ways if it shows unequal discipline

03/01/2008
You know you should document problems and violations before disciplining an employee who previously performed well. You create a paper trail showing warnings, counseling and efforts to get the employee back on track. But if the employee you disciplined can show that others with the same shortcomings got off, that paper trail may come back to haunt you …

360° evaluations help when charge is ‘Failure to get along’

03/01/2008
Courts are naturally suspicious when employers trot out subjective discharge reasons like “not a team player” or “fails to inspire subordinates,” which may mask an underlying discriminatory attitude. One way to add credibility to subjective evaluation criteria is to ask co-workers and subordinates for their confidential assessments …