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Q&A

How to pay employee called in during PTO leave

09/01/2006

Q. We have a nonexempt salaried employee who normally works Monday to Friday and is paid biweekly. She took a week’s vacation, which would come from her PTO (paid time off) bank. We had a customer emergency and called her into work on the Saturday of her vacation week. How should she be paid? Should she receive her PTO pay but have eight hours less of it charged against her PTO bank? Should she be paid for eight extra hours, plus her week of PTO pay? If we pay her both PTO and eight extra hours, do we have to pay her overtime? —W.M.

Run FMLA time concurrently with sick leave

09/01/2006

Q. We have an employee who is going to be out eight weeks for a qualifying serious health condition. The employee isn’t requesting to use FMLA leave because she has enough paid sick leave. Can employees choose not to use FMLA leave even though they meet the qualifications? —C.T., Georgia

Don’t push an employee toward disability leave

09/01/2006

Q. We have an employee (an officer at the bank) who was out six months with a heart condition. He has had performance problems on and off since then. He was hospitalized again with pneumonia and returned looking very bad, but his doctor says he’s fine to return to work.  We approached him about taking disability and SSI benefits, but he refuses. Now we face a morale issue because he constantly talks about his illness and his co-workers feel he isn’t performing. If we terminate him, what is the best approach? —C.T., N.J.

Obtain written OK for wage deductions

09/01/2006

Q. Our company allows employees to purchase products on an installment basis. When employees quit and haven’t yet paid the full amount, can we deduct the remainder due from their last paycheck?—K.M., Pennsylvania

Rein in Rogue ‘Early-Clockers’

09/01/2006

Q. We’ve repeatedly warned a part-time employee about clocking in earlier than he’s supposed to, sometimes more than an hour early. We know that we have to pay him for any hours worked, but what can we legally do to get him to work only the hours set for his position? —L.K., Missouri

Performance-Based Pay Cuts: Legal, not advisable

08/01/2006

Q. We do yearly performance evaluations, during which we review whether employees have met the expectations we laid out during the previous review. If these expectations were not met, can we legally decrease the employee’s salary as punishment? —A.L., Iowa

Layoffs: Walk a fine line to avoid age-Bias laws

08/01/2006

Q. We’re a small business (just eight employees) and haven’t laid anyone off. But business is slow and we need to restructure. We have an employee who has worked here part time (12 hours per week) for 25 years. She is 65 years old. We have one other part-timer (10 hours per week) who has worked here just one year. We’d like to lay off both part-time employees and keep the full-time employees. Can we do that? —P.U., Georgia

State law dictates smoking-Ban ability

08/01/2006

Q. We run a carry-out/catering kitchen. Can we legally tell all of our employees and customers that they can’t smoke on the property? —L.D., Maryland

Consider access to personnel file even if not required

08/01/2006

Q. We fired an employee based on an eyewitness account of theft. We documented that report and put it in the ex-employee’s personnel file. That person has now hired an attorney and asked to see the file. We feel that we have no obligation to respond. Do we have to turn it over without a subpoena? —E. I.  

Overly specific discipline policy can spark liability

08/01/2006

Q. I’m the HR director, and our discipline policy is very complicated and has several different categories of offenses. It says that if employees commit offenses that may result in suspensions of more than three days, employees are allowed a pre-disciplinary counseling conference. Now, my manager thinks that conference should be skipped if the employee has already been counseled for a prior offense in the past 12 months. I’m concerned that this deviates from our policy. Can we do this? —S.D., Illinois