Religious Discrimination — Beards; Quirky Question # 88

Religious Discrimination — Beards; Quirky Question # 88

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...

Associational Discrimination, Quirky Question # 87

Associational Discrimination, Quirky Question # 87

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...

“Long Term” Independent Contractors, Quirky Question # 86

“Long Term” Independent Contractors, Quirky Question # 86

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...

Recording Phone Calls, Quirky Question # 85

Recording Phone Calls, Quirky Question # 85

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...

Witnesses at Investigative Interviews, Quirky Question # 84

Witnesses at Investigative Interviews, Quirky Question # 84

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...

FMLA Preemptive Strike, Quirky Question # 83

FMLA Preemptive Strike, Quirky Question # 83

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...

Sexual Harassment, Ancient Info, Quirky Question # 82

Sexual Harassment, Ancient Info, Quirky Question # 82

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...

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...