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 # 40: We have an employee who is claiming she has a serious health condition as a result of work-related stress and has given us a note from a nurse practitioner saying she should be off work for a month. We don’t believe she has a serious medical condition, in part because we’ve heard that she is working...
Quirky Question # 39: I am the operations manager for a food distributor. One of our other managers, a long-term employee, was recently demoted to a position that places him in frequent contact with our customers. He was unhappy about that demotion and has filed a charge of age discrimination with the EEOC. One of our customers has now called...
Quirky Question # 38: Our company is a food retailer. We hired a convicted sex offender, who, after serving time in prison for his felony conviction, had been released. Given that he had “paid his debt to society,” we felt that we should not refuse to hire him because of his prior conviction. Moreover, because the job for which he...
Quirky Question # 37: Our company employs a number of salespeople who spend a significant part of their time driving between customer appointments. Our sales manager keeps track of their schedules and often calls them when he knows that they are driving between appointments, as this is a convenient time to check in with them. Do you see any problems...
Quirky Question # 36: We recently learned that one of our employees has illegal pornography on his work computer. We know we can discipline him (up to and including termination).The police recently requested a copy of his computer hard drive. Can we turn the hard drive over to the authorities even if they do not have a search warrant? Do...
Quirky Question # 35: I am the HR Director for a large company with operations in Alaska. Our Alaska-based employees work on a rotating schedule of two weeks on / two weeks off. Many of these employees commute from the Outside (Lower 48) for their two-week rotations. During their rotation, these employees live in company provided housing and are transported...
Quirky Question # 34: We continue to confront periodically lawsuits from former employees that are utterly frivolous. Some of the claims make you shake your head in disbelief. We’d like to file malicious prosecution lawsuits against the individuals who file these bogus claims. Are there any downsides to this approach? Could someone argue that the lawsuits we are contemplating are...
Quirky Question # 33: I am the VP of HR for a hospital. Each of our employees receives a formal policy, prohibiting them from divulging any “patient care data” to anyone. Our policy is compliant with federal law. A nurse in our ER recently became aware that a mother and her two children were being evaluated for meningitis, and that...
Quirky Question # 32: I am an attorney in the Law Department of an advertising agency. I recently learned in a roundabout way that one of our female employees is a motorcycle enthusiast. For the last few years, she has taken time off from work to attend the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. This year, someone at work was...
Quirky Question # 31: Our company provides desktop computer terminals with email to virtually all of our employees. We have adopted a policy covering the use of all of our Company-provided communications systems, including telephones, computers and email, fax machines and photocopy machines. Our policy provides, “Communication systems are not to be used to solicit or proselytize for commercial ventures,...
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...
