Employers are allowed to send home employees who show up at work sick. Having said that, recognize there may be reasons why employees are showing up sick that might include:
Reassure employees that you want them to take time to recover, and that you will help to ensure their work gets done. Remind them that sick leave is offered so they can stay home when they are sick. And if they are worried about lost wages, try to identify ways for them to make up the time once they return to health.
Affinity HR Group is BSCAI's endorsed HR partner, providing HR support, recruiting and employee engagement services. For a link to our menu of services for BSCAI members, go to www.AffinityHRGroup.com/BSCAI
Interviewing a potential employee is a critical piece of the recruiting process and, if handled correctly, it can be effective. If not, it can be worthless. And even worse, asking certain questions can be illegal. Here’s what we recommend:
While there is no federal requirement regarding employee rest breaks, many states do have laws governing workplace breaks and meal periods. To avoid violating specific state or municipal laws, you should reference the U.S. Department of Labor's website.
For those states that do not have specific laws governing meal periods, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) states that if employers choose to provide employees with rest periods, they must be paid. In addition, if employers grant employees a meal break, they, too, must be paid, unless the break qualifies as a bona fide meal period. As always, when the state laws differ from the FLSA, the employer is required to comply with the standards that provide employees the greatest benefit.
Can an employer discipline an employee for posting disparaging comments about the company on social media if the post was created on personal time? First, if you don’t already have one, you need a social networking policy, which outlines what employees can and cannot do with the Internet and social networking sites in relation to their job. The law in this area is quickly changing and employer rights are not so clear. You may want to seek help from an attorney or HR consultant to help you draft a policy or help you in interpreting your rights as an employer. And if you are considering disciplining or terminating an employee, it is strongly recommended that you seek counsel before doing so.
Behavioral testing during the hiring process is highly recommended but only under the following circumstances. First, you have to treat all of your candidates/employees similarly. For example, if you are hiring five new salespeople and you only test one, that can be problematic. Second, you should be sure to use a test that has construct and content validity – meaning they test what they say they are going to test and they don’t adversely impact any non-minority population. You can ask about validity and adverse impact results of any reputable testing company. Affinity HR Group highly recommends TTI’s TriMetrix HD Assessment.