Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees who are paid a salary may be required to work more than 40 hours per week without additional pay, but there are rules regarding whether an employee can be classified as a salary employee in the first place. Whether your position meets these rules will... View More

Both of these issues are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Unpaid breaks of 30 minutes or more are permissible under the FLSA, so you need not be paid during your lunch breaks. Whether you should be paid for the time you spend in the medical checkpoint and walking to your work station is a... View More

You may have a claim for failure to accommodate under the Americans with Disabilities Act due to your hypertension. But, this will depend on what your typical job duties are. Do other people who perform your job work with both COVID-19 patients and in "clean" areas? If so, you should... View More

While your employer can prevent you from coming to work if you've been diagnosed with COVID-19, it cannot treat you differently or require any further documentation from you based on any medical condition that could put you at greater risk for COVID-19. If your employer furloughs you instead... View More

Unfortunately, you are not eligible for unemployment if there is work available that has been offered to you (regardless of whether it is a different position).

The general rule is that you cannot collect unemployment and severance pay at the same time. Depending on how your severance package is structured (i.e. whether you are getting a lump sum or a series of payments over the next few payroll periods), you will not be eligible for unemployment during... View More

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, you must be paid for all hours worked. However, since North Carolina is an at-will employment state (meaning either you or your employer can terminate the employment relationship for any reason at any time), your employer is allowed to terminate your employment... View More

Under the FLSA, the general rule is that every employee can be paid on an hourly basis, but NOT every employee can be paid on a salary basis. Your employer may switch you from salary to hourly, and they can choose your hourly rate (as long as that hourly rate does not fall below California's... View More

Since your employer is a large corporation (500+ employees) and is considered an essential business, they are not legally required to offer any paid leave during this ongoing pandemic. Since there are no minimum standards here regarding how much paid leave employees are entitled to, your employer... View More

FMLA leave can typically only be used to care for another person if that person is your parent, child, or spouse. However, if you would be assuming day-to-day responsibility for the care of your brother, you may be entitled to FMLA leave based on an "in loco parentis" relationship. Such a... View More

The answer to this question may depend on the size of your employer and what your employer does. Under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, if you employer has less than 500 but more than 50 employees and is NOT a healthcare-related company, and you are quarantined pursuant to the advice of... View More

This is a tough situation. It sounds like your employer is a small employer (employs 50 or less employees). If that is the case, then the job protections set forth in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act may not apply to you. However, you may be protected under the Americans with... View More

This will depend on the size of your employer and what services it provides. If your employer has more than 50 but fewer than 500 employees and you are not employed in a healthcare or emergency responder role, then you may be eligible for additional partially-paid leave to care for your children... View More

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, you must be paid for all hours worked. If the work your employer is asking you to "volunteer" to perform for no pay is the same type of work you normally perform for pay, then you should be paid for this time and any other "volunteer" work... View More

This will depend on the size of your employer. If your employer employs at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius, then you are eligible to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). However, if your employer is smaller than this, you are... View More

Since your employer employs more than 500 employees, you are unfortunately not eligible for aid through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act that was recently passed. However, if you've been employed full-time with your company for at least a year, you may be eligible to take an unpaid... View More

If your employer has an employee handbook, then you should consult the handbook to see if there are any provisions that govern whether you are entitled to your accrued but unused PTO at the time of termination.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers are only required to pay their employees for time worked. While most employers offer some form of paid time off as well, this is not required. In this situation, since you haven't performed any work on these days, the FLSA does not require that you... View More

Ohio has recently passed laws expanding unemployment eligibility due to issues caused by COVID-19. However, employees are not eligible for unemployment if they voluntarily quit their jobs, so unfortunately, this person would not be eligible for unemployment under the circumstances. However, he... View More

This depends on the size of your employer. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act takes effect today, April 1, 2020. Under the Act, employees who are required to stay home to care for children whose schools have been closed due to COVID-19 concerns are required to receive sick pay at 2/3 their... View More