Susan K. Lessack is an attorney at Pepper Hamilton LLP in Berwyn, Pa. She defends employers in litigation of employment discrimination claims, wrongful discharge claims, and claims under federal and state employment-related statutes, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.
Q. Our maternity leave policy offers paid leave for female employees who plan to return to work after the birth of the child. If the employee quits before returning to...
Q. Our company’s vacation policy says that terminated employees are not paid for vacation days that they accrued during their employment. Is that legal?
Q. In recent months, a sharp decline in revenue has forced us to consider downsizing. What are the legal risks associated with a layoff, and how can we minimize them?
Q. We have a question regarding our crews that work out of town and stay out for about four days. Can we be held liable if they get sick on a meal that was paid for by...
Q. It’s come to our attention that a former employee of ours has not updated her LinkedIn profile after her termination 10 months ago for insubordination. Would...
Q. After making several accommodations for an employee who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and assigned a service dog, another employee is now claiming he...
Q. When an employee fails to clock in or out properly, our payroll department withholds that day’s pay until the next pay period as a form of employee discipline....
Q. Several employees have requested that we talk to another employee who, frankly, smells bad. I know she has medical problems. Can we ask her to do something about...
Q. We gave eligible employees a “floating holiday” in lieu of having Dec. 31 as a paid holiday. We generally pay employees for all unused vacation, sick and...
Q. Our office of about 30 people has been “asked” to stop using perfume and any other type of product that contains a fragrance because one employee claims...
Q. We need to cut costs, and have started to explore trimming our staff, starting with those who earn far more than other employees. Are there any dangers in doing so?...
Q. We require direct deposit of employee paychecks. We have one employee who hasn’t set up an account despite frequent requests. We have to mail his check from...
Q. I recently read about an employer laying off an entire division and then making those employees reapply for newly reconfigured jobs in that division. This sounds like...
Q. One of our employees has apparently taken in his sister’s young child because his sister is undergoing cancer treatment. He wants to take FMLA leave...
Q. Some of our employees routinely ask to use FMLA when they are five or 10 minutes late. It’s a scheduling nightmare and hurts morale. Does the FMLA cover...
Q. We want to hire someone who signed a noncompete agreement with his current employer. He asked us to indemnify him in the event his employer sues him. What are the...
Q. One of our employee’s job performance no longer meets our standards. While she used to be a good worker, she’s now making a lot of errors, coming in...
