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Q&A

What’s an employer’s responsibility to provide notification of a data security breach?

08/08/2008
Q. We maintain employee personnel information in an HR software program. We have discovered that a former employee hacked into the database and copied 100 employees’ first and last names, addresses, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers. Do we have to notify the employees? Some of them live and work in Ohio …

The legality of requiring job application fees

08/05/2008

Q. We have a problem with applicants who pass the pre-hiring process but then decide for some reason that they don’t want the job after all. They fail to show up their first day on the job. By that time, we have already spent time and money on drug tests and orientation, and turned down other promising applicants. Can we require applicants to submit fees to apply, which we will refund if we don’t hire them, or if they remain employed for a minimum period of time? …

Paying off vacation at termination

08/05/2008

Q. We have a policy that vacation pay is not paid at termination unless the employee attends an exit interview at which he signs a release of any claims he may have. Is this permitted? …

Paying exempt employees on an hourly basis

08/05/2008
Q. We have several positions that satisfy the duties tests for the so-called “white collar” exemptions (executive, administrative and professional). We want to pay these people hourly, rather than on a salary basis, because sometimes they perform work that would be considered nonexempt. Can we do this? …

Termination following customer complaint

08/05/2008
Q. We recently received a customer complaint about a short-term employee who was already on a “last chance” warning for work errors. Can we fire her now, or do we need to first investigate the complaint? …

Colorado vs. federal law on discrimination

08/05/2008
Q. Our small Colorado business is growing, and soon we will have 15 employees on the payroll. How does that affect our exposure under employment laws? …

Is time off for voting required? Paid?

08/04/2008
Q. Must an employer give employees time off to vote? If so, must we pay employees for the time they spend voting? …

Volunteer services and FLSA compliance

08/04/2008
Q. We are a for-profit health care facility licensed by the state of Texas. Can we use volunteers to perform services at our facility without compensation? For example,  the wife of one of our clients wants to volunteer her services in exchange for us waiving the daily-use fee we charge her husband. Are these volunteer services exempt from the wage-and-hour requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? … 

Can we ban guns in the workplace?

08/04/2008
Q. May an employer prohibit employees who are licensed by the state of Texas to carry a concealed firearm from bringing firearms onto the employer’s property? …

Can we switch a salaried employee to hourly to deal with pregnancy-related absences?

08/01/2008

Q. Our office manager, who is pregnant, has begun coming in late two or three times a week due to morning sickness. Because she is a salaried employee, we know that we cannot deduct from her wages for partial-day absences. Can we change her position to one that is paid on an hourly basis until she returns from her maternity leave? …