Q. Our CEO just implemented a new employee evaluation goal that calls for employees to do charitable volunteer work throughout the year. The more they volunteer, the higher the points they receive on their review, ultimately increasing their salaries. Can we do this without risk?

Q. Can we legally open all mail delivered to employees at the office? What if it is stamped “confidential,” can we still open it? This is getting to be a problem because our mailroom opens all mail automatically.

Q. On our applications, can we include a question that asks if applicants are related to any current employees?

Q. An employee who’s been employed since May is out on workers’ comp and will be for a while. Do I send her FMLA paperwork even though she hasn’t met the criteria of being employed for at least a year? It’s my understanding that I should send it to everyone who requests leave, and only after they return the paperwork should I determine if the person is, in fact, eligible.

Q. We’ve started requiring employees to repay (through payroll deduction) training costs if they quit or are fired within one year. Are we OK legally?

Q. An employee says our drug testing program violates his constitutional rights. What can I tell him to prove that we’re well within the law?

Q. How should we compensate an hourly employee for an out-of-town, two-day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) seminar? In particular, should we pay for the hours during the overnight hotel stay, since the employee must sleep there to be ready for the next day’s session?

Q. We’ve reduced the salaries of our exempt employees and told them to work only 36 hours each week. Still, however, many of those employees continue to work 40 or more hours per week. Exempt employees feel uncomfortable documenting 36 hours, when, in actuality, they’ve worked many more hours than that. Should we ask exempt employees to document hours that are not necessarily true?

Q. Can we require an employee who is out on FMLA leave to use accrued paid time off if he or she is receiving disability payments?

Imagine this nightmare scenario: You’ve contracted with a vendor to enter personnel data into a new computer system, including employees' Social Security numbers, addresses, names of dependents, health records and bank account routing numbers. Then the vendor notifies you that employee data was somehow stolen or lost. What do you do?

Q. When an employee gets married, do we need a new W-4 to show her new name? What about a new I-9?

Q. We suspected an employee was using drugs, so we sent him to be tested. We told him he couldn’t work until the test came back in two days. The results were negative. Do we owe him wages for those two days?

Q. One of our employees is out on workers’ comp. Our contract says “no sick time will be lost or deducted” while employees are out on workers’ comp. But now he wants to know if he continues to accrue sick time and holiday pay while not working. Does he?

Q. We have some employees who are earning the maximum salary for their job classifications. Can we cut their pay if we feel they’re overpaid?

Q. We have an employee who is going on eight weeks’ leave for a qualifying serious health condition. She 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 qualify?

Q. We are planning to furlough employees temporarily. If we do rolling furloughs, can employees get unemployment comp to cover some of their time off?

Q. Can you please clarify if and when we can offer comp time to our employees? What’s the difference between comp time and flextime?

Q. Our Internet policy says that if we find employees accessing pornographic web sites, they’ll receive a three-day suspension without pay and a mandatory referral to an EAP counselor. Can we require this?

Q. Some of our admin assistants are good employees, but they’re constantly late. What can we do to get them to come to work on time?

Q. We have an employee who has blood clots in her legs and whose doctor says she can work only 40 hours per week. She knew overtime was required when she was hired. Do we have to let her work a reduced schedule of just 40 hours?

Q. We offered a job to an applicant who was located out of state. We orally promised her a position and gave her a start date. As the date grew closer and we were finalizing the offer letter, there was a hiring freeze and we had to withdraw the offer. She has now threatened to sue us. Does she have a case?

Q. Our company pays quarterly and annual bonuses, depending on the position. If an employee is with us throughout the entire quarter/year, but leaves before we pay out the bonuses, is he still entitled to one? We don’t have a policy stating that you must be employed at the time the bonus is paid.

Q. Is it illegal for a company to prohibit employees from sharing salary and wage information?

Q. Can I require an independent contractor to provide weekly sales reports (number of contacts made, closed sales, contracts sent, etc.) without turning our arrangement into an employer/employee relationship?

Q. We have an employee who was out six months with a heart condition. He has had performance problems on and off since then. 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?