It depends. Generally, employees can use unpaid breaks as they see fit. However, if the employee sleeping is affecting their work, disrupting others, or otherwise negatively impacting the business, you could (and should) address those issues. For example, if the employee is sleeping at the front...
2008 was a difficult year. The Great Recession was underway. People lived in a constant state of worry. In workplaces across the country, employees informally gathered after official meetings, trying to decipher what their leaders had shared and what information they’d held back. If the larger...
Discipline is an act on the part of the employer to address and correct inappropriate behavior or a policy violation by an employee. Discipline functions both as an incentive for employees to refrain from bad behavior in the first place and as a corrective if...
No, you’re not required to pay this employee through the end of the week. The general requirement to pay a salaried, exempt employee for the full week doesn’t apply in the first or last week of employment if the employee didn’t work the full week....
In general, yes. When an employee is on a performance improvement plan (PIP), and their performance has not improved and has, in fact, gotten worse, it is perfectly reasonable to cut the timeframe of the PIP short and move forward with further disciplinary action, including...
Yes, in two circumstances. First, you can discipline the employee if their other job violates your outside employment (aka moonlighting) policy. Second, you can discipline an employee who obtained FMLA leave fraudulently. If, however, you do not have a policy that specifically prohibits employees from...
You need to investigate the matter. A racially insensitive comment could be considered harassment—unwelcome behavior that’s based on a protected class such as race. Harassment becomes unlawful if putting up with it is a condition of continued employment or if the conduct is severe or pervasive...
In the 2009 movie Up in the Air, George Clooney and Anna Kendrick play corporate downsizers—HR consultants that companies across the country hire to terminate employees for them. The practice wasn’t exactly common at the time, and fortunately never took off, but it was believable. Terminations are...
FMLA is short for the Family and Medical Leave Act, a federal law that provides employees with unpaid, job protected leave and benefits continuation in certain circumstances. People also commonly call leave under this law FMLA, as in “I’m going on FMLA.” FMLA generally provides...
The most risk-averse approach would be to terminate this employee as well. Any time you deviate from consistent disciplinary practices—in this case terminating for forging timesheets—you open your organization up to greater risk of discrimination claims. This employee would no doubt appreciate not losing his...