Real Life Employment Law
Nearly every day, executives and managers, and the in-house counsel and Human Resources professionals who work with them, are confronted with unanticipated questions regarding the workforce. Just when they think they have "seen it all," along comes a new and often stranger scenario involving an odd twist to an area they thought they fully understood. These individuals often find themselves back at square one when trying to construct an appropriate response and devise a creative solution to the problem presented. Sometimes these "Quirky Questions" can be resolved easily; other times, they implicate practical and legal issues that are not immediately apparent.
This Quirky Employment Questions Blog addresses unanticipated questions regarding the workforce.
We encourage you to submit your thoughts and reactions to the questions presented. We also encourage you to submit questions that you would like to see addressed, subject to these guidelines.
Stephen D. Bell
Michael Droke
Joseph W. Hammell
Sarah Andrews Herman
Ryan E. Mick
William J. Miller
Melissa Raphan
Gregory M. Saylin
Gabrielle Wirth
David C. SingerBLOG CONTACT INFO
E: Wirth.Gabrielle@dorsey.com
P: 714.800.1455
Quirky Question # 90: Several years ago our company adopted as arbitration policy. We felt that this was one way we could control our employment litigation costs. Our arbitration policy is set forth in our Employee Handbook, which is available to our employees on line. We encourage our employees to review the Handbook if they have any questions about our...
Quirky Question # 89: Our company develops software and is based in California with another location in Arizona. On occasion, our software developers in Arizona come to our California facility to perform some work. Two of our Arizona based developers have recently complained that while they are in California they should be paid overtime for the work done at our...
It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over, or How to Convert a Successful Mediation to a Done Deal By: Joan S. Morrow, Attorney and Mediator You and your client settle a case at mediation. Great! But, alas, the end of the mediation marks the beginning of weeks or sometimes even months of protracted negotiations over the language of the settlement agreement...
Quirky Question # 88: We have various policies at our company relating to the appearance of our employees. One of those policies is that our male employees must be clean shaven. Several of our employees are protesting that policy on the ground that it constitutes religious discrimination. Come again? Is this legit? Do we have to accommodate the requests of...
Quirky Question # 87: Some time ago, you wrote an analysis about discrimination on the basis of inter-racial marriage. We are confronting a slightly different problem. Several of our Caucasian employees have complained that they have been discriminated against because of their friendships with their African American co-workers. These individuals are not married to the African Americans and they have...
Quirky Question # 86: We run an insurance company. Some members of our workforce are employees; some are independent contractors. Admittedly, some of our independent contractors have held this status for some time. We don’t pay our independent contractors overtime for their efforts – we really don’t even know how many hours they put in. I’ve heard some rumors that...
Quirky Question # 85: We recently heard a rumor that a member of our software engineering staff is planning to leave and start a software company of his own that may compete with us. Further, we have heard that he is discussing his plans with others outside of our company using the desk phones in our San Francisco office. We...
Quirky Question # 84: We periodically have to investigate alleged wrongful conduct by our employees. Some of these employees want to bring another person with them to the investigative interview. Over the years, I’ve received conflicting reports about whether we have to allow this practice, or not. One employee who was insisting on having someone with her during the investigation...
Quirky Question # 83: We have an employee who has only been with our firm for about 11 months. He recently requested FMLA leave. Although we generally like the guy and think he does good work, we have had problems in the past once employees start exercising their rights under the FMLA. Frankly, they just are not as dependable. Especially...
Quirky Question # 82: I am the HR director for a mid-sized company. A number of years ago, one of our employees complained about sexual harassment from a senior executive in the Company. We investigated and found corroboration for a number of her allegations. The investigation also revealed that other employees had been mistreated by the executive. We addressed the...
Erica ChenErica is an associate in the Costa Mesa office of Dorsey & Whitney and a member of the firm’s Labor and Employ...
Jack SullivanJack is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employment group, where he focuses his practice on employment adv...
Ieva AubinAs an employment and business immigration attorney, ...
Michael DrokeMike started his career as a client, not a lawyer...
Matt DurhamMatt defends employers in Utah and throughout the ...
Aaron GoldsteinAaron is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employ...
Josh HughesJosh’s experience spans trial and appellate advoc...
Jillian KornblattJillian is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor & Employ...
Laura LestradeLaura began practicing at Dorsey in 1992 and has s...
Ryan MickFor more than a decade, Ryan has counseled corpo...
Nick PappasNick litigates and counsels with respect to com...
Melissa RaphanMelissa is a Partner in Dorsey’s Labor and Employ...
Gabrielle WirthEmployers turn to Gabrielle for guidance on how they...
