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Employee handbooks…every employer should have one, but does yours include policies that are unlawful? Test your employment law IQ and let us know what would you do.

Scenario: Dickie V., the HR Director for Bracketology Secrets, Inc., has asked Bracketology’s employment law counsel, Billy B. Ball, to review Bracketology’s Employee Handbook, which was last revised in 2007. Since then, Bracketology has grown to25 employees, all located at one central location. When Dickie V. receives Ball’s written analysis of Bracketology’s Employee Handbook, he is shocked to see so many suggested revisions.

Which of the following policies do you think Billy B. Ball left unrevised?

A.  Bracketology Secrets, Inc. compensates its employees on a merit-based system. To avoid creating hostility or other issues in the workplace, Bracketology employees are not permitted to discuss their individual compensation packages with other Bracketology employees.

B.  Employee personnel files are property of Bracketology Secrets, Inc., and will not be released to any employee or third party without a subpoena or similar court order.

C.  Bracketology Secrets, Inc. desires to keep all of its employees, customers, vendors, and the general public safe on its premises. As such, any employee who brings a weapon to Bracketology premises, whether on their person, in a bag, or in a vehicle, may be subject to immediate termination.

D.  All three policies are acceptable as written.


Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: Outdated and Unlawful Policies in Employee Handbooks – What Would You Do?

Continuing in our series to test your employment law IQ, this week we will focus on FMLA requests often received in HR offices.

Scenario: Henry Fixit worked as a maintenance man for Sleep Inn for almost 20 years. Sleep Inn has 105 employees. As part of Fixit’s regular duties, he was constantly climbing ladders, lifting heavy equipment, and performing other physical labor. Fixit recently suffered a non work-related injury that required surgery. He requested FMLA leave, which Sleep Inn approved. After two months, Fixit gave Sleep Inn’s HR Director a doctor’s note, stating that Fixit was able to return to work, but with certain lifting and bending instructions. When Sleep Inn refused to create a light duty position for Fixit, Fixit sued for FMLA interference.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Sleep Inn interfered with Fixit’s FMLA entitlement when it refused to offer him a light duty position.

B.  Sleep Inn is not liable for FMLA interference, but it would be liable under workers’ compensation laws for its failure to create a light duty position.

C.  Sleep Inn is not required to create a light duty position for Fixit.

D.  None of the above.Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: FMLA Interference – What Would You Do?

Happy 2014! Can you believe it is another new year? Time flies!

We will be finishing up our Employment Law IQ series in the next few weeks. Today’s question involves the sticky overlap of the ADA and FMLA, two laws that can be difficult even for seasoned HR professionals to navigate.

Scenario. Lucy Lawless works as an associate attorney at Dewey, Sue & Howe, the biggest law firm in Southwest Florida. Lawless, a lifetime smoker, was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Dewey, Sue & Howe, which calculates FMLA leave on a calendar basis, grants Lawless 12 weeks of leave under the FMLA. Lawless is unable to return to work after 12 weeks, so Dewey, Sue & Howe grants Lawless an additional six months leave. At the end of six months, Dewey, Sue & Howe granted Lawless an additional period of leave, up to the anniversary date of her first request for leave. On the anniversary date, Lawless requests additional leave, but does not provide Dewey, Sue & Howe with any doctor’s note or certification to verify her request. Dewey, Sue & Howe terminates her.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Dewey, Sue & Howe violated the ADA by failing to grant Lawless additional leave.

B.  Dewey, Sue & Howe violated the FMLA by failing to grant Lawless additional leave.

C.  Dewey, Sue & Howe violated both the ADA and FMLA by failing to grant Lawless additional leave.

D.  None of the above.


Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: FMLA Extension or Termination – What Would You Do?

Travel time is one of the most hotly contested issues under the FLSA. This week we will test your employment IQ on compensable travel time.

Scenario. Timmy Tee is employed as a non-exempt public relations coordinator for Go Gators Enterprises. Timmy’s regular work schedule is 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Go Gators Enterprises requires Timmy to attend a two-day marketing conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Timmy travels by bus on Wednesday, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Timmy returns home by bus on Saturday, traveling from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Go Gators Enterprises must pay for all of Timmy’s travel time, since it required him to attend the marketing conference.

B.  Go Gators Enterprises must pay for the Wednesday bus trip, since these hours cut across Timmy’s normal work hours.

C.  Go Gators Enterprises must pay for the Saturday travel between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m., the travel time which cuts across Timmy’s normal work hours.  This is required even though Timmy does not normally work on Saturdays.

D.  Both B and C are correct.Continue Reading When Is Travel Time Compensable?

Continuing our Employment Law IQ series, today we focus on Anxious Annie. Anxious Annie works as a receptionist for P U Waste Disposal. She is a decent employee, but seems to have trouble coming to work on time, and often calls in “sick” on Mondays and Fridays. When Annie is written up for absenteeism, Annie tells her supervisor she needs a leave of absence to deal with panic attacks. Annie’s supervisor reports the request to P U’s HR Director, but laughs it off and says the request “smells funny.” P U has more than 15 employees.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Because Annie’s disability is not obvious, P U is entitled to receive “reasonable documentation” about the disability and its functional limitations.

B.  Because Annie’s disability is not obvious, P U can ask to see Annie’s medical records.

C.  Because Annie’s disability is not obvious, P U can ask about the nature of the disability and its functional limitations.

D.  Both A and C are correct.Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: Absenteeism and Questionable Leave Requests

In honor of Veterans Day, let’s test your Employment Law IQ with regard to Active Duty Military Leave.

Scenario:  Linda Longlegs is employed as a dance instructor by Footloose Studios, a small dance company in Southwest Florida. Longlegs, who is in the Army reserve, tells her supervisor she needs six months of leave because she has been called to active duty in Afghanistan.

Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  When Longlegs returns, Footloose does not have to re-employ her because Footloose only has 9 employees.
B.  When Longlegs returns, Footloose does not have to re-employ her because Longlegs only worked for Footloose for two months prior to her request for leave.
C.  Longlegs can use her accrued PTO while she is on leave.
D.  While Longlegs is on leave, Footloose must pay her regular wages and continue to pay her health insurance coverage.Continue Reading Employer’s Responsibility — Active Duty Military Leave

At HR Law & Solutions earlier this year, we brought back Employment Law IQ: our employment law game show, designed to help attendees spot potential legal issues and learn strategies to mitigate risks from those issues. As promised at the seminar, we will share a few scenarios here on the blog over the next few weeks to further test your Employment Law IQ.

First up? Social media and hiring. Social media policies and privacy settings can be source of pain for employees and employers alike, but they are critical in this electronic age. But the considerations go beyond social media policies — employers must also take care in how they use information learned from social media and other online searches during the employment process.

Question. What would you do in this scenario? You are looking to hire a general manager. While doing an online search of the top candidates, you discover that one of the candidates has blogged about his recovery from alcohol addiction. Based on your online discovery, you decide to hire another candidate who is as equally qualified. Which of the following statements is correct?

A.  Your hiring decision is unlawful because all online searches of applicants violate the EEOC guidelines on pre-selection criteria.

B.  Your hiring decision is lawful because the first candidate self-disclosed his status as a former alcoholic.

C.  Your hiring decision is unlawful because it is based on the first candidate’s disability.

D.  Your hiring decision is lawful because the first candidate is not disabled under the ADA.Continue Reading Employment Law IQ: Hiring Decisions Based on Social Media Postings

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) into law, it was a landmark and welcome law that originally only applied to about 20% of the labor force (mostly factory workers). The law banned oppressive child labor, set minimum wage at 25 cents per hour, and set a maximum workweek at 44 hours.

Over the past 75 years, the FLSA has morphed into a complex and highly-litigated area of the law that regulates nearly all workplaces. It is now almost universally despised by employers. Decades of amendments have made the FLSA so expansive it requires multi-volume sets of legal treatises to fully comprehend, its nuances ensure almost no employer can fully comply, and plaintiffs’ attorneys crank out lawsuits by the dozens, knowing a single dollar owed entitles them to recover all of the attorney’s fees spent prosecuting the case.

Continue Reading A Labor Day Toast to Seven Subjects the FLSA Does Not (Yet) Regulate

In our last blog post on improving your workplace documentation practices, we discussed best practices for effective documentation. This post addresses when to prepare documentation of a workplace event, observation or communication.

To be effective, documentation needs to be accurate, objective, specific, and clear. But, it also needs to be TIMELY! In this fast paced…