www.postgazette.com/pg/08037/854967-28.stm -
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Published on: 2/6/2008
Last Visited: 2/6/2008
When employees have a concern, "they don't check it at the door when they come in," said Jennifer Blum Feldman, an attorney with Wolf Block Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP in Philadelphia.
"They're going to be distracted and they may have a decrease in productivity because they're not focused," she said.
If one worker is spending an inordinate amount of time on the phone, you probably need to tell everyone that occasional calls are OK, but if they have to do a lot of calling, it should be done at break or lunch time.Or, Ms. Feldman said, an owner might want to allow employees flex time to take care of their problems.
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If someone ignores the rules, "treat it as any employee performance situation with progressive discipline," Ms. Feldman said.In progressive discipline, an employee is given a series of warnings that could end in dismissal.
Many owners may decide to loan employees money.If you do, "have the employee sign a promissory note that's legally binding," Ms. Feldman said."Make sure you're going to get paid back."
Ms. Feldman cautioned that owners should be aware that wage and hour laws may limit how much can be deducted from an employee's salary to repay a loan -- even if an employee wants to pay it off quickly, an employer can take out only so much from a paycheck.