Burnett’s Staffing
Trade Secrets and Confidentiality
By Michael Kelsheimer Who, What, Why . . . Who does it apply to: Any employer who has information it would prefer that its competitors not have, which really ought to be everybody. What is a “trade secret”: Any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of information used in your company’s business that gives you a competitive advantage over ...
Are “Working Interviews” Legal?
By Michael Kelsheimer One of my dental practice clients called this week to inquire about an idea he heard of recently called a “working interview.” The idea is to have an hygienist come in for a couple of days to find out whether they are good at their job without officially hiring them. What is better, ...
Smoking Discrimination
By Michael Kelsheimer Who does it apply to: All employers who have employees or prospective employees that smoke. What is the issue: According to recent statistics 18.5% of the adult population in Texas smokes. Smoking affects productivity of the smoker and can affect the health of all employees. A lot of publicity has come to ideas regarding ...
Covenants Not to Compete
By Michael Kelsheimer Who, What, Why . . . Who does it apply to: Any employer who fears its employees might go out and start a competing business or work for a competitor and share the employer’s secrets. What is a “covenant not to compete”: Non-competes, also known as non-competition agreements, are a specially designed type of contract creating ...
Employee Breaks Required?
By Michael Kelsheimer on March 17th, 2011Posted in Employee Benefits, Quick QuestionsI get a call at least once a month from a panicked client who just heard a rumor that they have to give breaks to employees every day. Unfortunately, there is no snopes.com for employment myths, so this almost total fallacy gets perpetuated over and over. In the vast majority of circumstances the ...
You Can’t Ask that in an Interview! Or, Can You?
By Michael Kelsheimer Last week, Katie Morrell offered a piece entitled “The 5 Worst Things You Can Do in an Interview” on AMEX’s Open Forum small business site. Of course, #1 was “getting too personal” in which she explained that it is illegal to ask about race, sex, marital status, etc. This myth has persisted too long. It is not ...
Employee vs. Independent Contractor
By Michael Kelsheimer on January 4th, 2011 Posted in Handbook Articles<:section> Who, What, Why . . . Who does it apply to: Any employer who characterizes someone who works for them as an independent contractor and does not withhold taxes for payments made to that person. Why does it matter: While you may not think ...
Social Networking
By Michael Kelsheimer on December 10th, 2010 Posted in Handbook Articles Who, What, Why . . . Who does it apply to: Every employer, regardless of whether employees access the internet at work. What is it: Blogging, use of sites like Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, and the like. Virtually every person in the ...
Who Wants to Play Survivor – At Work?
By Michael Kelsheimer Sometimes posts should just be fun. One of my co-workers forwarded me a story yesterday on Lowering the Bar, a humor site for lawyers – about lawyers. Apparently, a law firm in San Mateo, California has decided to hire some new associate lawyers and they are doing so with a little twist ...
Can I Dock Employees for Inclement Weather Days?
By Michael Kelsheimer As winter approaches and those of us in the Dallas area wonder if we are in for a repeat of last year’s snow storms, employers may start thinking about those days they probably had to close around the time of the Superbowl. They may wonder if they have t pay employees for ...
