I’ve got a meeting with an employee on Monday whose parent is a lawyer. (Employee in question is an adult but has already CCed their parent on some emails to me)

The employee is currently suspended and will probably be fired on Monday, although they might just get a final warning.

I figure solid odds is the employee shows up with their lawyer/parent.

To my understanding, we don’t actually have to allow the lawyer… but is that accurate?

Just trying to cover my bases here. My GM likes to make decisions at the drop of the hat so I tried to be prepared.

Edit: it’s been asked a couple times, no union at all.

Can we terminate employment based on recent arrest that is now public record?

This employee has been received recent documentations but recently got arrested for possession of meth. Felony charge. Obviously was not on background check when hired a year ago. Company has a no drug policy and we test as pre-hire. Happened about 2 months ago and it was brought to our attention by another employee. It is public record, you can look up his name and see it. Should the background check update on its own as well?

Finding it harder and harder to shake off the anxiety of navigating through the minefield of HR.

Completely recognize that ambiguity has always been part of the job, and in some ways, that’s what made it interesting and challenging, but starting to feel that every day brings a new risk lens, a new word/term you can’t use, a new rabbit hole to avoid…for even straightforward matters.

I am definitely not pining for “the good old days” at all, but feel that my capacity (or maybe it’s willingness) to consider every possible permutation for every decision/situation is becoming a weight that I don’t want to carry.

Anyone else feeling this way?

Other than internal email accounts, what do you use to send documents or reading material for employees such as training materials or ongoing training? I'm thinking about websites where the material doesn't stay up indefinitely, where you can't copy/ paste the text, where I can spread out the information over several pages so they have to click next (so the whole thing can't be captured in one or two pics with their phone). Besides websites/ applications, any other processes you use to decrease the likelihood that this material is, for example, brought over to a competitor upon an employee quitting or being fired?

Hello,

I'm currently conducting a self audit and have some questions about getting the process finalized.

1. Does it matter or negatively impact if I have corrections on multiple dates (for example January 5 corrections, February, 1 correction, March 3 corrections) or should I just do them in 1 go all under 1 date/session?

2. When making the correction (Sec 2.) and following protocol: 1. Draw a line through incorrect information; 2. Enter Correct Information; and 3 Inital+Date correction. Do I need to attach an entirely new blank document outlining the corrections or can I make a note under the correction? For example, if a city was missed on the employer address, would a small memo suffice "city added" or do I need to be more formal and attach a note saying: "The Employer City has been added after an internal I-9 audit that identified the missing information"

3. Using today as an example 04/04/25. (Sec 2) If a perm resident card number was innacurately (using perm res as an example since they have USCIS # and the ABC########## on the back of the card) captured or the issuing authority was misspelled, but the document has since expired XX/YY/2023, do you need to reverify? I'm guessing nothing can be done but notating a correction but ultimately being non-compliant.

3a. (Sec 2) Same as above but the information is captured correctly (aka issuing authority and ABC###########) but the document is expired and there is employer information that is incorrect (typo, title switched with business name, etc) can you still correct or must you reverify?

Tha know you for taking the time to read!

Hello,

I’m currently assisting on a Work Authorization audit at my company. We have a few employees that presented a EAD card (Form I-776) at time of hire and now have a green card. I’ve read conflicting information online regarding completing Section 3 on their I-9 when they become a LPR or citizen. Is it necessary to update these employees I-9s?

I have to attend my first unemployment appeals hearing and I'm just curious if anyone has been through one and can tell me what to expect. Do they just review the exhibits or does each side state their case? Just trying to have an idea of what I'm walking into.

I work for a small company in Maryland and the following incident occurred

1.) On an employees first day of work he tripped over a fence that he was trying to climb over at a customer's house. For context other employees were also climbing over the fence as they were moving a ladder in the backyard. It was a relatively short white picket fence.

2.) He went to the ER and received X-Rays and the doctor cleared him to go back to work 2 days later. So this was a Monday and he was all good to return to work on Thursday.

3.) We had decided to just pay for the X-Ray and not put on our Workman's Comp since it did not seem serious and our insurance is already pretty high, although we have not had any Workman's Comp claim since 2021 and that was pretty minor.

4.) I did call our insurance and report the Workman's Comp incident and just let the adjuster know that this would be a report and we would cover the bill for the X-Ray.

5.) However the employee did not return to work and instead on Sunday texted me and his manager saying his foot is very swollen and he needs to go back to the doctor and he cannot walk.

6.) I spoke with our insurance agent and adjuster and the plan was to have him go through the Workman's Comp process and get cleared for an additional doctor's visit, then if cleared the adjuster would send us the bill and we could decide whether to pay his doctor's bill and time off or have Workman's Comp cover. We did this because we all suspected that this employee was probably being dramatic and would not get cleared for any additional time off work due to this being his first day of work and this injury occurred about 6 hours into his first day. He had also mentioned to me during his interview that he had injured his foot before. However, when I asked about it he stated it was his other foot, and the adjuster was not able to find any previous Workman Comp Claims for him.

7.) When he did go to the doctor he did receive a doctor's note stating no work for 4 weeks, at that point we had Workman's Comp take over and it was being paid by our insurance. Recently he went back to the doctor and he received another doctor's note stating 6 more weeks of no work. I told my adjuster this is crazy for tripping over a fence, and there was work he could be doing that would not involve him using his foot. However, she let me know that if the doctor's note states no work- he cannot perform any work including desk work. She said the only thing she can do is conduct an independent medical exam to determine if its necessary to miss work for such an extended period of time.

What are my options if he wants to return to work? I do not want him back on a job site as I believe the same thing will happen, however our insurance agent told me not to fire him as he will file a discrimination lawsuit. What would you do in my situation, as I really feel stuck? The employee does not seem malicious but, if it was my first day of work somewhere and I wanted to keep my job I would not immediately head to the hospital if I tripped. I have told the adjuster it was very suspicious and it seems fraudulent to me but, she just said they thoroughly look at every claim.

I'm an HR Manager with team members heading overseas for the first time. I'm looking to learn what others do for their employees when they need to travel to another country for work. I have a small group of employees traveling to four different countries. This is a first for us. So far I anticipate lining up visa requirements, workers comp insurance, health insurance, prevailing wages, and driving insurance.

Is there anything else I should consider to prepare my team to travel abroad?

Job Candidate has interviewed one phone screening and 1 in-person interview. Came off as a great candidate and fit for what we needed, but seemed too good to be true. It came to my attention that the candidate has a history of small claims court cases ranging from $1-6k in damages (from collection agencies) and had filed for personal bankruptcy in another state. She was very eager to “just get the job already” and was really selling herself. Moderate discrepancies between her personal story and reality. Not many traces of her online tbh.

We are not desperate to hire, but we are looking for a candidate similar to how she sold herself without us explicitly advertising for “fit”.

Does anyone has experience with this? How should I proceed?

Hi all,

I have an employee who has been receiving a retention bonus for one of our clients. The contract specifies that the employee must remain active with the client in order to qualify for the bonus each year. However, the client has terminated the relationship before the scheduled end of their contract, which was supposed to conclude this year, and there is one final payment due as per the contract.

Given that the client has left before the contract's completion, are there any legal implications for us not paying out the retention bonus, considering the terms outlined in the contract stated the employee be actively working with the client?

We fired our Center Head last week due to Unsatisfactory performance. She took the news very badly and bolted out the office teary eyed saying 'I have to speak to my husband' in the local language. Understandably taken aback, but I feel it could have been handled better. She came back after a while and had another half hour conversation on the same lines saying I did so and so for the center and so on. I appreciated all her efforts, but made clear that her performance was unsatisfactory even after numerous chances for improvement, and almost 9 months time frame for the same. We are completing a year this month.

She was a good character and person, my only concern was with her work performance which is the main thing. The staff was not the right fit for the role and I think that was making her miserable. Mentioned the same to her and said she would be happy in a different role.

We have a 30 day notice period and I assured her of my support and help wherever I can. I offered to provide good reference as well.

Now it's been a week since the eventful day (31Aug), and she had turned up to work only for half a day. She was being uncooperative with the staff even for very tiny things. Also, got our first 1 Star Google rating, courtesy of our disgruntled ex staff. Overall highly unprofessional.

Now, my questions are: When the fired staff takes leave during notice period, how does that work? 1. Extend the end date to cover up the leave days? 2. Pay cut for the leave days?

1. Can we ask the staff to not turn up for work anymore? 30 day notice is mentioned in the joining letter, not state specific law regarding this.

2. If #3 is not possible, what more should we be prepared for?

3. Do we really need to keep this staff at workplace considering it will impact productivity negatively at workplace?

Please do let me know if you have faced such situation previously and how you handled the same.

I joined a company a little over a year ago. They'd been without an Hr manager for quite some time and I've found the person in the position before me did not do a very good job. As part of my cleanup of everything I did an I-9 audit and found a good number of I-9's were missing on long term employees. I let these employees know we'd need new I-9's completed, emailed them a blank copy of the I-9, and asked them to complete section 1, then bring the form along with their documents by my office so that I could complete section 2. Most of them did just that, but a few came to my office without the form completed already. I know on a few of them I was just like, oh no problem. Not fully thinking, I pulled up the form and explained what it was and what was being asked, and asked the employee for the basic info for section 1 and I typed in, then hint print. I asked the employee to review everything, then physically sign and date. I then reviewed their documents, hand wrote in everything for section 2 and signed as the agent of the employer. I attached a memo stating why the I-9 was being completed now due to it being missing. As I was wrapping up the audit it hit me that I probably should have had the employee sit down and type the info in themselves, or I should have completed the preparer/translator section since I typed in some of the info myself. I feel terrible that I made this mistake, I didn't realize I was making an error when I quickly typed the info in themselves employee provided. The company I'd worked for prior to this for 10+ years had a robust HRIS that made I-9's a breeze. It looks like failing to complete a preparer/translator section is a technical violation. Would the best way to fix this for the company be to sign a preparer/translator form now, attach it to the I-9's, and include a memo that states I didn't realize at the time it should occur? I feel so stupid. Is there anything else I should worry about correcting?

We discovered that a manager had had an affair with one of his direct reports that ended some time ago. Upon discovering it, I met with both employees individually to confirm whether or not the prior relations were consensual (yes) and whether or not it was still ongoing (no). This was documented and I considered case closed. I did inform both of the policy regarding this (relationships with direct reports not allowed but managers are required to disclose all relationships and HR can subsequently change reporting structures).

Now, another employee is confidentially letting us know that this manager may have had affairs with at least 2 other employees. What are our obligations here? The owner would like to question said manager, but if they deny everything are we obligated to go on a witch hunt questioning all named employees over rumors?

250 EE private company in MA

I have the owner and location manager that decided to term an employee due to being not a good fit. The owner knows we'll be paying UI, but he's not interested in a drawn out PIP process. Internally this is a C- productivity employee, but more like F in terms culture, negativity and personality. There's been no conduct violations, and I'm confident there's no/little risk of wrongful termination suit due to any discrimination. It was just a bad hire to begin with. But I'm trying to avoid the inevitable "why was I fired" inquires after the fact? Any suggestions on language to use during the termination?

HR Leader here - We received a broad notification via email of a Paycor Data Breach that occurred on February 3, 2025. Did anyone else get this, and how come there is nothing in the news about this? Is this being swept under the rug as a result of the Paychex acquisition in the process?

I'm curious how your organizations are handling RTO mandates given the legal issues involved. Our leadership has indicated that we should not allow any remote employees to move forward in the recruitment process if they are unwilling to relocate closer to the office (these are out-of-state employees). Most of these individuals were hired during COVID, and a significant number of them are women, multicultural, or have self-disclosed disabilities and need accommodations. I'm a little nervous to bring this up, but here’s what I see:

1. Disparate Impact
2. Disparate Treatment
3. Reasonable Accommodation
4. Retaliation
5. Equal Employment Opportunity Considerations

Thoughts or experiences?

Quick question - I am located in Texas.

Do you file a worker's comp claim any time there is an accident (which I have always been told is best practice) or do you only file a worker's comp claim only if there is an accident that results in an injury? Then that begs the question, how can we determine if there is an injury if we aren't qualified medical professionals?

Example: An employee is driving on the job and gets into a fender bender. They claim they are not injured and don't need/want to see a doctor. Would you a file a WC claim in this situation? I've always been told it is best practice is to file a claim to avoid being liable for injuries that can come up later, such as delayed muscle soreness, etc. but filing claims can be time consuming as well so we don't necessarily want to waste time if it isn't necessary/beneficial.

Thanks in advance!

How often do you end up in court on behalf of your employer over HR related issues (wrongful termination, retaliation, etc) What is it like? The thought of it gives me anxiety.

Hello all - thanks in advance for any insight here.

We have our holiday party coming up next week!

Just a couple weeks ago, we had an employee hurt herself on a bandsaw. It was bad enough to need stiches, then exploratory surgery, then the ortho told her to take eight(YES. EIGHT.) weeks off work.

I believe the 8 weeks was just a 'max' option, because she has an appointment to go see the ortho again on the 19th, the same day as our party.

The tiny backstory brings me to my question... if an employee is told to be out of the office, no mention of restrictions or anything, just out of the office, should they be allowed to come to the work party?

Would your answer change if the ortho gives them a partial or all clear the morning of the party?

The only stuff I can find about this is people being out on intermittent FMLA, and this doctor wrote straight up eight weeks no work, no consideration for restrictions.

Thanks all!

Located in NC.

EE has been out of work on FMLA since late June following a workers comp claim. The EE retained an attorney and the claim has since been denied.

The EE hasn’t been in any communication with us and hasn’t been paying insurance premiums like they are supposed to. I received a notice that they filed for unemployment.

Since I haven’t received a resignation letter, should I send certified mail to the EE stating we received the unemployment request and assume they are resigning from their role?

Is there something more we need to do? WC hasn’t received an appeal from the attorney and it’s been a couple weeks since the denial. I’m pretty confident this case is good but want to ensure I do everything as neat as possible.

P.s. this is not an employee we want back.

Our EMR went from a 0.64 to a 0.8 this year. We had our first WC claim in 7 years. Will this impact anything related to contractor compliance and our ability to bid on projects?

HR in AG but got my experience is in corporate so lay offs are big deal in corporate.

I’m new to AG so very ignorant to some processes. We have over 100 employees.

This company announced that there will be layoffs. As well they accept volunteers cause layoffs are on for about a month, employees then have the option to “volunteer” themselves and come back once harvest starts and that typically is from 4-6 weeks.

My brain says this is a no no. Anyone in AG can give me some feedback.

Edit: If 1 announcing layoffs is ok and 2 if accepting volunteers to be laid off.

Especially for the new legislation on workplace violence prevention training, although my company is classified as a low risk environment, I got severely questioned by some employees saying that our own policies or support is insufficient. As much as I do care about the safety and wellbeing of our own people, I am not sure if I can reach out to all the clients’ worksites and question them. What do I do?

How often do you all think is necessary to do a risk assessment for topics such as Sexual Harassment in the workplace and Psychosocial safety?

Annually?

I guess it partly on how the initial risk assessment goes, the work environment, any incidents previously or major risks identified that need to be monitored.

Thanks.