Can an office manager at a doctor’s office tell employees what they can wear to work?
Rita Risser Chai replies: Yes, within reason. Any office can set a dress code in order to create the image they want to maintain. [...]
About Rita M. Risser Chai
Rita M. Risser Chai was an attorney in California for 20 years and now is an attorney in Hawaii. She authored the Prentice Hall book, Stay Out of Court! The Manager’s Guide to Preventing Employee Lawsuits, and she developed most of the curriculum used by Fair Measures including the firm’s first website which was praised in HR Magazine. She also wrote numerous articles on employment law including one on best practice harassment prevention training published in the magazine of the American Society for Training and Development (now ATD). She taught Law and Human Resources at the University of California, Santa Cruz, for eight years, and has presented four times at the annual conventions of the Hawaii Society of Human Resource Management.I own a restaurant in Louisiana. I pay all of my staff, including waiters $8 or better. Are tips their property or mine?
Rita Risser Chai replies: Under current law (February, 2018) their tips belong to them. As reported by the Washington Post, the Trump administration proposed [...]
EEOC Finally Recommends Training Invented by Fair Measures 30 Years Ago
The EEOC, the federal agency responsible for preventing sexual harassment, recently recommended that training programs should include a discussion of workplace values like respect, [...]
Does an employee have a legal right to review an investigation report?
An employee was wrongfully accused of harassment and would like a copy of the report. Rita Risser Chai replies: Generally, an employee does not [...]
My son’s ex-boyfriend is emailing me at work the intimate details, pictures and videos of he and my son’s private adult lifestyle.
While this is somewhat offensive to me, I am more embarrassed for my son who has to hear about his ex contacting me in [...]
I was terminated for contacting a coworker who said I said something that made her uncomfortable—is this legal?
I was away from work for a month with the reserve. When I returned to work things were very different, they had changed my [...]
Harassment: It’s Not About Sex, It’s About Power
A manager recently asked me about the sexual assaults by Charlie Rose and Louis CK. He said, “I don’t get why they did those [...]
My manager wrote me up because she didn’t approve of someone on my personal Facebook page. Thoughts?
Rita Risser Chai responds: My thoughts are that your manager is a nosy busy-body. Also, your manager should not be your “friend” on [...]
My employer is asking us to create a “life board” depicting personal life goals. Is this legal?
The board is to be displayed in an area where other staff members and customers can see it. They have pressed the issue to [...]
My former employee is lying to our mutual friends about the reason we terminated him. Can I tell our friends the truth?
I used to manage a former employee who was also a family friend. He was terminated for a couple different issues for cause. Since [...]