Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Job candidate is told that any job offer is contingent upon passing a drug test. On d-day, job candidate bolts from the drug-testing facility, claiming that he has trouble in confined spaces. No drug test means that job candidate is disqualified from…
In most states, absent a contract of employment, an employee is considered at-will (i.e., he or she can be fired for any reason or no reason at all). Many employers reinforce — in very prominent locations in employee handbooks — that their employees are at-will. What happens, however, when an…
Yesterday afternoon, in a letter to City Council, Mayor Michael Nutter vetoed the “Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces” bill. This bill, discussed in a previous blog post, would have required businesses to provide paid sick leave to employees who work a minimum number of hours in Philadelphia County. On June 16,…
Let’s assume that your company — as many do — has a computer-use policy, which underscores that electronic communications sent over your network are not private and the company has the right to monitor all such electronic communications. Under federal law, communications between the spouses, privately made, are generally assumed…
Can a company create and enforce a policy that requires employees on paid sick leave to remain close to their homes, unless they obtain the company’s permission? Would that policy infringe on an employee’s FMLA rights? Good questions. The answers are after the jump. * * * Employees abuse FMLA?…
In keeping with The Employer Handbook tradition (and so as not to reverse any good black and gold mojo), once again, I will follow a Bruins OT playoff win… (cue the music…) …with a look at an employee’s right to review his/her personnel file. Last week, we explored whether Pennsylvania…
Two Philadelphia posts in a single week. That’s called keeping it real. For local employers, keeping it real may mean moving out of the city, as the cost of doing business in Philadelphia could be on the rise. Check out this post I did for The Legal Intelligencer about a…
Keeping with this week’s smoking theme, I see that the The New York Times recently ran a story discussing how some employers are refusing to hire smokers. The article warns, ““Smokers now face another risk from their habit: it could cost them a shot at a job.” But is this…
“I know you don’t smoke weed, I know this; but I’m gonna get you high today, ’cause it’s Friday; you ain’t got no job… and you ain’t got sh*t to do.” – Smokey from Friday (1995). Back in 1995, when Smokey was trying to convince his buddy Craig…