Q. I recently discovered that an employee who handles my company’s accounts receivable has filed for bankruptcy. Can I discharge this employee?

Q. For quality-control purposes and to ensure that workers are not making personal telephone calls, we would like to tape-record the calls employees make on company phones. Would that be legal?

Q. Should we require new employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement in order to protect our trade secrets, customer lists, etc.?

Q. Many of our employees have children who will return to school this month. Are we required to grant these employees time off for school-related activities?

Q. On the U.S. Department of Labor’s Form WH-381 (Notice of Eligibility and Rights & Responsibilities), there is a line that asks if the worker is a “key employee” as defined in the FMLA. I don’t want to offend any of our employees, so I always check the “yes” box.  Am I doing the right thing?

Q. We would like to administer personality tests to job applicants. Would this violate the ADA? A. Personality tests are a good example of the types of policies likely to be affected by the recently passed ADA Amendments Act of 2008 ...

Q. We recently downsized our department. As a result, the additional workload has shifted to the employees who still have jobs. Can we force those employees to work overtime?

Q. We closed our offices for a day because of a phoned-in bomb threat, and we sent all our employees home. Do we need to pay them for showing up to work that day?

Q. To prevent productivity and morale problems, we would like to adopt a policy stating the company will not hire the spouses of current employees. Would this be lawful?

Q. One of our employees recently went on military caregiver leave to take care of her injured husband. She is also expected to give birth in the coming weeks. Is she entitled to 12 weeks of leave under the FMLA in addition to her 26 weeks of caregiver leave?

Q. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has been headline news as of late. What is this proposed legislation?

Q. If an employee works four-hour shifts for seven consecutive days, are we required to pay him time-and-a-half for the seventh day? Is it even lawful for us to require him to work seven consecutive days?

Q. I recently heard that employers are now required to use a new I-9 form for new employees. Is this true?

Q. I have an employee who is a volunteer firefighter. Although I believe that volunteering is important, his absences to respond to emergencies have disrupted workplace productivity. Can I replace him because of the problems his service causes?

Q. Our company is considering replacing sick leave and vacation benefits with a paid time off (PTO) program. How are these plans treated upon the termination or resignation of an employee?

Q. How does the new California law making it illegal to send and read text messages while driving affect employers?

Q. One of our employees is experiencing performance-related problems that I believe are attributable to a mental disability. However, the worker has not notified the company that he suffers from an impairment that may be a covered “disability” under state or federal laws. Nor has he asked for any accommodations. Should we nonetheless offer to reasonably accommodate this employee?

Q. Several recent hires have suffered work-related injuries shortly after beginning their employment. As a result, our workers’ compensation premiums have soared. The company’s CEO, in an effort to avoid this problem, has directed that only “careful” workers be hired in the future. Is this legal?

Q. One of my employees has created his own web site. Recently, he has been posting negative comments about our company. Specifically, he has accused the company of failing to provide adequate benefits and paying below-market wages. Can we fire the worker for this conduct?

Q. What kinds of penalties or liability does an employer face if it fails to provide notice of COBRA coverage upon termination of an employee?

Q. Are there any specific requirements regarding the types of resting and eating facilities California employers must provide for their workers?

Q. Our company’s attendance policy calls for issuing a warning when an employee has three absences. Five absences result in a suspension, and seven absences result in termination. Can we continue this policy?

Q. We recently had a power outage and called employees who weren’t in yet to tell them to come in when the power was back up. We then gave these people a chance to make up the lost time by working late or using paid time off. Do we have to pay them for the hours they missed?

Q. Our employees earn paid sick and vacation leave. Can we require them to use their paid leave at the same time they take unpaid FMLA leave? Otherwise, it seems as if they could use up paid leave and still take 12 unpaid weeks off.

Q. An employee with severe hearing loss refuses to use his hearing aid. He works in a loud environment with forklifts and other hazards. Can we force him to wear the hearing aid or otherwise remove him from the floor? We think he’s endangering himself because he can’t hear someone warning him about a hazard.