• The HR Specialist - Print Newsletter
  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
  • The HR Weekly

Q&A

Is there an hourly threshold employees must pass to earn paid holidays?

09/26/2012

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?

Is ‘he who hired also fired’ a good defense against discrimination charges?

09/26/2012
Q. If an employee claims he was discriminated against by the same supervisor who hired and fired him, does the employer have a defense to the discrimination claim?

Must we pay an intern we plan to bring in?

09/26/2012
Q. We plan on hiring a college intern later this year. Will we have to pay him or her?

What should we do? Our work requires talking on cellphones while driving

09/26/2012

Q. The animal care officers who work for us spend 80% of their time driving and responding to rescue calls via cellphone. Requiring them to pull off the road while talking on their phones wouldn’t work. Is there another way to limit our liability?

Is it legal for us to restrict when employees may take small amounts of vacation time?

09/21/2012

Q. We recently needed to cut back on some of our employees’ shifts, meaning that some of them now work less than 40 hours per week. In order to bring their hours up to 40, these workers have been filling in their time sheets with varying amounts of their earned vacation. Are we permitted to restrict when our employees may use their earned vacation?

What is California’s law concerning leave for school-related activities?

09/21/2012

Q. With the start of the school year, several of our employees have asked to leave work early to attend parent orientation events at their child’s school. Are we obligated to grant employees time off for these events?

How should we pay for jury duty?

09/21/2012
Q. One of our employees received a jury duty summons. What are our obligations toward the employee in terms of pay and leave?

Can we implement a civility code that prohibits employees from name-calling?

09/20/2012

Q. I’d like to institute a civility code that goes beyond the basic racial and sexual slurs to include any name-calling that is demeaning, crude or rude. What do you suggest as punishment?

Are we allowed to fire a mentally ill employee who makes threats?

09/20/2012

Q. On three occasions, an employee threatened colleagues with physical violence. After the last incident, she explained to her manager that she is bipolar and going through a prescription change. She said she was unaware of making threats, was truly sorry and never meant any harm to anyone. Do we have to tolerate this behavior now that we know she may be disabled?

Can we insist that doctors’ notes include a diagnosis of an employee’s medical condition?

09/20/2012

Q. May we ask for a diagnosis when an employee ­requests a few days of sick leave? Or must we ­accept any doctor’s note without any explanation?