When co-worker relationships break up, tensions can boil over in the workplace. Back-stabbing and name-calling may play out in the office—and that may require discipline. When that happens, investigate thoroughly. But watch out for discipline that looks suspiciously like discrimination against just one of the former lovebirds.

Workplace discrimination charges filed with the EEOC in the 2009 federal fiscal year reached the second-highest number ever. Thirty-six percent of EEOC charges involved race discrimination, retaliation or both. Sex-based discrimination was the third most-common charge, at 30%.

Q. Can I prohibit an employee from using the company’s e-mail system for union-organizing purposes?

Philadelphia Eagles backup quarterback Michael Vick may be back in the NFL, but the litigation continues. The Employee Benefits Security Administration discovered that pension funds in one of Vick's companies were improperly diverted to Vick to pay his criminal restitution. Now Vick must pay $400,000.

The snow's coming down pretty hard and an exempt employee calls to say she can't make it in today because her car is stuck. Can you deduct a full day's pay from her salary for that missed day? What if she's non-exempt? What if you close work because of bad weather? Here's guidance to help you make the call.

Because FMLA leave is an entitlement, employers aren’t allowed to interfere with it. Interference can include things like requiring employees to perform work during their leave. That’s why it’s important to make arrangements for getting work done without requiring assistance from the employee on leave.

Q. Two employees are refusing to participate in an internal workplace investigation. Can we discipline them for insubordination?

California employers are popular targets for lawyers looking for the next big lawsuit hit. They may have found a new one right under their ... well ... butts.

Romantic affairs at work are generally a bad idea, especially if they involve a supervisor and a subordinate. But here’s one worry you can lay to rest: Employees who aren’t involved in an affair with the boss won’t necessarily win a sex discrimination lawsuit if they don’t get the promotions or favors their co-worker got.

Employees often claim their jobs stress them out. And for some, it’s so bad they feel they need to take off work to cope. That doesn’t mean, however, that employees are automatically entitled to use FMLA leave for stress. When does stress rise to the level of a "serious health condition" covered by the FMLA?

Employees who claim they have experienced age discrimination must prove that age was the reason for an adverse employment action, such as termination or demotion. It’s not enough to show that a supervisor merely referred to the employee’s age. As the following case shows, merely suggesting retirement in lieu of discharge isn’t enough.

Before concluding that a white-collar and seemingly professional skilled and scientific job is exempt from overtime, get expert advice. Blindly deciding that the job is exempt may mean trouble down the line.

Employees may think that just calling in sick is enough to put their employers on notice that they need FMLA leave. That’s simply not the case. Until recently, at least one federal appeals court had told employers they had to consider an employee’s unusual behavior as “constructive notice” of the need for FMLA leave. Now the DOL has eliminated the regulation on which the court relied.

Q. An employee brought in a doctor’s note that said, “Employee can work only eight hours a day due to arthritis.” I don’t think that’s an ADA disability. Is it a violation of ADA if we don’t honor this restriction?

Q. I know that there have been some recently enacted changes to federal employment laws (the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act and the ADA Amendments Act, for example). How do these changes affect the required EEO postings for my business?

Q. We scheduled an hourly employee to work a full day, but he worked only part of the day because we didn’t have enough for him to do. With the slowdown in our business, we expect this will be happening with this and other employees more frequently.Do we have to pay hourly employees for a full day of work or just the actual number of hours worked?

Starting Feb. 1, the IRS will begin intensive audits looking into the employment tax compliance of 6,000 randomly selected employers. One key target: identify employers that are improperly misclassifying employees as independent contractors. If your company is selected for audit, follow good IRS examination management practices.

It’s a serious mistake to wrongly classify employees as exempt when they should be designated as hourly workers eligible for overtime. Be especially wary of one of the most common errors: Applying the exempt administrative classification to employees just because they perform nonmanual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the company.

Q. We have an employee out on unpaid FMLA leave. She said she wants to collect unemployment compensation. Is she eligible?

Now’s a good time to double-check your wage-and-hour compliance. The DOL's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) last month completed its promised hiring of 250 new wage-and-hour investigators—a 33% increase in its investigative force. Plus, starting in early 2010, the WHD will be teaching your workers how to sue.

When employees say they’re having trouble completing their job duties because of their ADA-qualifying disabilities, employers are required to enter into an “interactive process” to find accommodations that allow them to perform the job’s essential functions. That’s where the newly updated, redesigned Job Accommodation Network (JAN) site can come in handy.

Q. During inclement weather, we sometimes close the office early and send employees home. Do we have to pay them for the whole day?

It’s time to take a fresh look at the health questionnaires you hand out to employees as part of your wellness program. New federal regulations that prohibit discrimination against people with congenital medical conditions mean you must review health risk assessments to make sure they don’t ask employees to reveal protected information.

The cost cutting and staff reductions may not be completely over, but as the economy begins its recovery, HR will be dealing with new challenges in 2010. Still, the flush workplace of 2006 isn’t likely to rush back into vogue. In fact, the historic recession has made a lasting impression on many organizations, which could hang onto the lessons they learned while surviving lean times. Here are 10 trends to expect in the coming year, plus tips and tools to help you respond to each:

Employers, beware if you don’t stay on top of the intricacies of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The fact is, the law is still developing and employers that don’t keep up will be caught. Consider the following case involving the seemingly old question of “donning and doffing” clothing and gear before and after clocking in: