Category: Common Law Claims

Strip Search, Quirky Question # 127

Strip Search, Quirky Question # 127

Quirky Question # 127: Our company runs fast food restaurants.  Recently, we received a call from a local police department, advising us that a patron had just had a wallet stolen during a visit to one of our restaurants.  The officer provided a description of the suspected thief, matching very closely the appearance of one of our female employees who...

Employee Relationships and Protective Orders, Quirky Question # 79

Employee Relationships and Protective Orders, Quirky Question # 79

Quirky Question # 79: Like many companies, we periodically have situations where two of our employees get romantically involved.  (We don’t have a non-fraternization policy and don’t attempt to limit these relationships in any other way.)  Sometimes, the two involved employees have a great relationship and ultimately get married.  Some times, the relationship ends, but the employees seem to work...

Domestic Abuse and Wrongful Discharge, Quirky Question # 66

Domestic Abuse and Wrongful Discharge, Quirky Question # 66

Quirky Question # 66: One of our employees recently advised us that she and her two children were suffering from domestic violence by her husband.  She requested us to provide her time off to move herself and her children out of the abusive situation at her home.  Frankly, we were somewhat skeptical so we denied her request.  Not long thereafter,...

Rights Provided by Employee Handbook, Quirky Question # 54

Rights Provided by Employee Handbook, Quirky Question # 54

Quirky Question # 54: We have an employee who has missed a fair amount of work due to various surgeries.  As set forth in our handbook, we offer FMLA leave for employees who have worked 1250 hours in the preceding 12 months.  When we were informed that our employee would need to miss additional time due to some follow-up surgeries,...

Usurpation of Corporate Opportunity, Quirky Question # 52

Usurpation of Corporate Opportunity, Quirky Question # 52

Quirky Question # 52: I formerly was employed as an engineer of a high tech start-up company.  I worked for the company for several years in a non-management role.  The company struggled to complete its product (or even to get it to work properly).  Because of these ongoing problems, the company had continual difficulties raising money.  Nearly bankrupt, the company...

Litigation by In-House Counsel, Quirky Question # 50

Litigation by In-House Counsel, Quirky Question # 50

Quirky Question # 50: We are a small to mid-size company, with a relatively small legal department.  We have a General Counsel.  He, in turn, supervises two other attorneys.  The General Counsel joined our company about two years ago, and frankly, his relationship with C-level executives has not been ideal.  His relationship with the CEO has been particularly strained.  The...

Disparaging Comments on Web, Quirky Question # 14

Disparaging Comments on Web, Quirky Question # 14

Quirky Question # 14: One of our employees discovered fortuitously (by Googling his own name) that a co-worker down the hall has been posting messages to a Web-blog, in which he identified the employee by name and made graphic, negative sexual observations about him.  Not surprisingly, the two employees are not friends.  The subject of the comments had no idea...