Tag: Santa Barbara
Employee Leaves: How Do We Get Control of Our PTO Program?
We’ve got a situation around our PTO (Paid Time Off) program. When we first initiated it, people liked it, and we thought that the very clear policy—exceed your accrued PTO days and you won’t get paid for any additional time off—would work well. We figured employees would hoard their days, and that we’d only have […]
Flu Epidemic: Can You Help Me with a Concrete Plan for a Possible Flu Epidemic?
I need some help with creating a plan for coping with a possible avian flu epidemic. My boss wants a concrete plan—she thinks our operations could be hit hard if the flu comes. A few issues back you gave us a website for avian flu information, which I’ve visited. But now, can you give some […]
Recruiting: Are We Allowed to Recruit Employees from Competitors?
Our company’s hiring managers always want me to recruit from certain competitor companies. I’d like to know what legal and ethical limits there are on my right to recruit employees from other companies. Can I cold call someone in a competing firm and ask if they would be interested in working for my firm? What […]
Employment Law Tip: Warding Off Workplace Violence
In late January, a former U.S. postal worker went on a shooting rampage at a mail processing plant in the town of Goleta near Santa Barbara. The ex-employee killed five, wounded another, and then turned the gun on herself. She reportedly had been placed on medical leave from her job in 2003 for psychological reasons–at […]
Terminations: Do We Have to Pay Out the Notice Period if the Termination Is Effective Immediately?
Because of the vulnerability of our systems to insiders, if someone gives two weeks’ notice before quitting, we usually have the person leave the premises right away. We handle the termination process in the next day or so under supervised conditions. My first question is, do we have to pay these people for the whole […]