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  • HR Specialist: Employment Law
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Q&A

Discrimination and pay issues when employee has jury duty

07/01/2008
Q. One of our employees has been called for jury duty. What are our obligations? …

Must we pay for employee uniforms?

07/01/2008
Q. We require our employees to wear uniforms, and we make employees pay for them. A new employee said the employer must pay for uniforms. Is he right? …

Seasonal work, temps and 1099 status: Are we liable for unemployment comp?

07/01/2008
Q. We hire seasonal temps and have them sign a policy that says their employment will end on a certain date. We’re aware of the unemployment responsibilities that come with being the last employer on record. If temps are hired with 1099 status, will our company still be responsible as the last employer on record and held liable for unemployment benefits? If we use a temp agency, are we liable? …

Can emergency contact info be mandatory?

07/01/2008
Q. We’re cleaning up our personnel files and updating emergency contact information. Some employees don’t want to provide their contact information. Is it legal for us to require them to give it to us? …

Sex harassment complaints only in writing?

07/01/2008
Q. Our regional manager wants me to revise our sexual harassment policy to require that complaints be in writing. He says this will formalize the procedure and help ensure that only valid complaints are filed. I’m not sure this is a good idea. Is it? …

OK to withhold pay to cover missing laptop?

07/01/2008
Q. An employee who recently quit hasn’t returned a company-owned laptop computer worth over $1,000. Can we withhold the value of the computer from the employee’s last paycheck? …

Are we legally obligated to rehire a disabled ex-employee?

07/01/2008
Q. One of our employees went on disability after a motorcycle accident. We terminated him at his request, as he wanted to cash out his 401(k). His doctor recently released him from disability, and he’s seeking re-employment for a different position. Our owner is concerned that if he doesn’t offer the ex-employee a job, we may face legal retribution. And he’s concerned that if we do bring him back, we’ll end up with a workers’ comp claim from a slip/fall injury. Do we have any obligation to rehire this employee?

Severance pay in case of a layoff

07/01/2008
Q. Does Colorado require severance pay if companies do layoffs? …

About those waiver-and-Release agreements

07/01/2008
Q. Are there any special requirements for waiver-and-release agreements? …

Salary reductions and exempt status

07/01/2008
Q. We are considering reducing salaries across the board because of a slowdown in business. Will reducing the salary of exempt employees jeopardize their exempt status? …