Q. One of our employees is adopting a 5-year-old Ethiopian child and has asked for leave to travel to complete the adoption and bond with the child when they return to...
Some employers believe that pregnant women aren’t entitled to time off for pregnancy-related matters because pregnant women aren’t disabled or unable to...
Q. We’re a nonprofit organization and offer health insurance to our 100+ employees. If an employee is enrolled in the health plan and voluntarily resigns, are we...
Can employees be fired for being too fat? Can a job candidate who is missing her front teeth be turned down? Is it OK to hire or fire someone because of personal...
Overtime pay. Discrimination. Family leave. Harassment ... Federal employment laws govern all of these issues – and many more – that you deal with at some...
Short staffing makes management difficult. When an employee is out on medical leave, others have to pick up the slack. Still, remind supervisors that they can’t...
Q. We give employees a one-hour unpaid lunch break. We don’t provide additional paid breaks during the day. If an hourly employee also chooses to take short...
Mass layoffs trigger employer obligations under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires some employers to provide advance written notice...
Q. Do we always have to allow intermittent FMLA leave for cancer treatments (e.g., chemo and radiation)? The employee is capable of working and says the treatments are...
Hourly employees know that if they work overtime, their employer must pay them for the extra hours. That’s true, but it doesn’t mean they can work OT...
Employers are sometimes tempted to monitor and record employees’ communications and activities. That can backfire. Fact is, there are limits on how employers can...
Q. An employee asked to take 12 weeks of FMLA leave this summer because her kindergarten-age child will be out of school. She says her child is special-needs and...
The typical retaliation scenario involves an employer firing an employee who has complained about discrimination or engaged in some other protected activity. What...
Good news for Minnesota employers that have been worried about how to pay employees for the time they spend putting on and taking off protective clothing before and...
Q. Our company has employees stationed in locations outside the United States. A situation recently occurred that raised the question of whether U.S. employment laws...
The FMLA is a complicated law that can trip up even the most experienced HR professional. And sometimes it may not be apparent that an employee didn’t get the...
