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Q&A

Eligibility for Holiday Pay Is Your Call

07/01/2002

Q. Is there a law that states the number of hours necessary to be considered full time for being eligible for paid holidays? Our handbook says an employee who works fewer than 40 hours a week is considered part time. An employee who works 34 hours a week wonders if he should be eligible for paid holidays. Our handbook says he’s not. Is that OK? —B.D., Michigan

Avoid Two-Tier Benefit Policy

07/01/2002

Q. We offer all employees two weeks’ paid vacation a year. If an employee chooses a 100-percent, full-commission pay structure, how should we set her pay for vacation? The employee wants to take her annual pay divided by 52 weeks, but we feel that’s unfair to the employees who are on salary plus commission, because their vacation pay is based on their base salary divided by 52 weeks. Is there a correct and legal way to figure this? —R.D., Florida

Be Cautious in Requiring Payment From ‘Short’ Cashier

07/01/2002

Q. Management wants to institute a policy that requires cashiers whose registers are short at night’s end to replace the disputed amount out of their own pockets. Does this violate the law? —B.B., New York

Avoid Liability for ‘Porn Spam’

06/01/2002

Q. Some of our employees have been getting a lot of spam e-mail that advertises porn sites. I’m concerned that an employee will consider this junk as creating a hostile work environment. What can we do to protect ourselves? —M.C., Minnesota

References: Stick to Facts

06/01/2002

Q. An employer asked us for job verification on an employee we fired. It has a written consent form from the worker allowing the query. Can I release any and all information regarding the ex-employee’s history with us? —R.F., Colorado

State Laws Govern Access to Personnel Files

06/01/2002

Q. What’s the law on letting employees review all their personnel files? Can we prevent it? —J.S., Utah

Dual-Method Time Sheets OK

06/01/2002

Q. Our nonsupervisory, hourly employees punch in using a time clock. Our supervisors write timecards. Is this dual method acceptable or could it lead to legal trouble? —A.N., New Hampshire

Employee’s resignation stops your FMLA obligation

05/01/2002

Q. One of our managers resigned a month ago, but she applied for FMLA leave a day before her resignation. Are we under any obligation to return her to a position she resigned from? Are we obligated to offer her a job when FMLA expires? —T.K., Massachusetts

FMLA Won’t Cover Tardiness

05/01/2002

Q. Some of our employees routinely ask to use FMLA when they are five, 10 or 15 minutes late. It creates a scheduling nightmare and hurts morale. Does FMLA cover employees who are consistently tardy for work? —M.P., Florida

Workers’ Comp Fraud Is Legitimate Reason to Fire

05/01/2002

Q. While on unpaid leave, one of our staffers applied for and was granted workers’ compensation. This person has not expressed any interest in returning to work. She may even be working for someone else. Can we terminate her? —A.L., New York