Q. One of our employees claims he needs an ergonomic desk for health reasons. He seems physically fit and goes “Jeeping” on the weekends. Do we have to start the whole accommodations process?
{ 1 comment }
Articles by Carl Crosby Lehmann
Gray Plant Mooty
Minneapolis, Minnesota
www.GPMLaw.com
Carl.Lehmann@GPMLaw.com
(612) 632-3234
Carl has significant experience in advising employers on personnel matters, drafting employment policies and agreements, and litigating employers’ interests in both administrative and judicial proceedings. Carl’s practice includes advising employers in personnel-related matters, including terminations, discrimination and sexual harassment issues, defamation claims, employment and independent contractor agreements, noncompete and confidentiality agreements, wage-hour concerns, voluntary and mandatory affirmative action policies, and insurance issues.
Carl Crosby Lehmann
Q. We are considering instituting a criminal background check policy for all employee positions. We’ve heard scary stories of lawsuits regarding negligent hiring, and we’d really like to avoid that sort of litigation, not to mention the negative media attention. Is there any downside to having an “across the board” criminal background check policy?
{ 4 comments }
Q. We are doing an internal review of our recordkeeping, and we realized that we track hours for our on-site transcriptionists but we have not been tracking the hours for our transcriptionists who work from home. The on-site employees are nonexempt and we pay them an hourly wage. However, the remote employees are paid piece rates—a certain rate for the number of words transcribed from dictation. Do we have to keep track of their hours?
{ 0 comments }
Q. We recently received a complaint that one of our sales reps had sent false emails and texts about one customer to another. We determined that the emails and texts have been sent from the cellphone we provide to the sales rep. We asked the service provider to send us copies of the emails and text messages. The service provider refused our request. Why can’t we get that information?
{ 0 comments }
Q. We have several employees who drive commercial motor vehicles. We have heard that there are rules about the use of cellphones by those drivers. How do those rules affect us?
{ 0 comments }
Q. We have learned that one of our employees has been subjected to domestic violence and has a restraining order against her boyfriend. We are concerned that the man might become violent in our workplace. We are considering terminating the employee to make sure that our other employees are safe. Does such a termination raise any legal issues?
{ 0 comments }
Q. I’m dealing with an enforcement agency investigator who is really rude. She accuses me of hiding information, threatens to subpoena information and says things like, “I know all about your company and how it treats minorities.” She’s been calling my managers at home and demanding that they answer questions. What do I do? Am I going to make things worse if I complain about her behavior?
{ 0 comments }
Q. The EEOC wants us to participate in mediation. Should we? If we don’t, will it make the investigator think we’re trying to hide something?
{ 0 comments }
Q. We received a charge from the EEOC and we’re dealing with it. Now we’ve received correspondence from the state equal opportunity agency, too. What’s up? Are we going to be investigated twice?
{ 0 comments }
Q. A discrimination charge was filed against my company almost two years ago. We responded to the charge and provided the requested information. We haven’t heard anything for more than 18 months. My boss is worried and wants the process over with. Should I try to find out what’s going on, or just leave it alone?
{ 0 comments }
