Concerns About Supervisor Should Focus on Work Issues

Q I work in a department of file clerks. One of the newer file clerks, hired about six months ago, always made it a habit to “kiss up” to management but treated the rest of us with total disrespect. Sure enough, when our supervisor quit, this newer clerk was promoted to supervisor. She is not only incompetent, but treats us poorly.

We are debating whether we should call a meeting with the administrative director to discuss this problem. We are afraid because the director and the new supervisor are friends. How should we handle this situation?

--L.L.A., Costa Mesa

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A You and your colleagues should definitely make your feelings known to someone in authority, using the proper reporting lines. However, it is very important that you focus on work-related issues--keeping your concerns at the professional rather than personal level. It may be more difficult for management to ignore the problem if it is clear that the supervisor’s behavior is a concern to most (or all) of the members of the department.

--RON RIGGIO

Professor of industrial psychology

Cal State Fullerton

Right to Know About Prescription

Q What legal right does a supervisor have to ask the name of a prescription you’re taking--even if it’s just for a couple of days--the effect of the medication and the extent of your sickness?

--E.G., Laguna Hills

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A Your supervisor has a right--an obligation, in fact--to ensure that your employer is providing a safe place to work for all of its employees. Prescription medications may impair an employee and jeopardize his or her safety or that of co-workers.

Therefore, a supervisor would have the right to ask for the name of the medication you are on and its effects in order to determine whether you may present a safety risk to yourself or others. For the same reason, a supervisor would have the right to seek information about your illness.

--MICHAEL A. HOOD

Employment law attorney

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker

Reciprocal Pacts for Jobless Benefits

Q I have a question regarding unemployment benefits for an employee who is based out of state but pays California state taxes. I worked for Continental Airlines until last year, when I was furloughed. I had been based in Guam for six to eight months. Before that, I was based in Denver. I am a pilot, so little of my work actually occurs in those locations.

My residence has always been in California. After my furlough, I filed in California for unemployment benefits. California had no record of my earnings, so they sent a request to Continental Airlines for information. In short, Continental had paid my unemployment insurance to the state of Texas (Continental’s headquarters are in Houston.) Texas benefits are much different and less encompassing than benefits in California.

Why were they not required to pay my unemployment insurance in California, my residence and tax home?

--S.D., Garden Grove

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A Because unemployment is a subject of national as well as local concern, federal law permits states to enter into reciprocal agreements whereby coverage under one state’s unemployment compensation law is considered coverage under another state’s unemployment compensation law. The purpose is to avoid duplicating contributions by employers and to encourage employers to continue services customarily performed in one or more states.

California is party to an agreement known as the Interstate Reciprocal Coverage Arrangement. Under it, an employer can file an application to be covered under the law of a single state for all the services performed by an employee in one or more participating states. To participate, an employer must file applications in the state where the individual employee services are performed, where the individual resides and where the employer maintains its place of business. Thus, an employee can receive unemployment compensation from a state in which the employee never worked or lived.

In your case, you may only be entitled to benefits under Texas law. However, to ensure that your employer was complying with the law, you should send inquiries to the California Employment Development Department and the appropriate department in Texas. You should ask whether your employer has filed an application to be covered under the laws of Texas and whether Texas is among the states participating in the reciprocal coverage arrangement.

--WILLIAM H. HACKEL III

Employment law attorney

Spray, Gould & Bowers

Give Commission Pay Plan a Chance

QI’ve worked for the past three years at a company where I had a base salary plus commission. This year, I was told that it would be 100% commission. Should I not be able to make enough income and leave for that reason, am I entitled to draw unemployment?

NAME WITHHELD

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AIt depends. The basic rule for unemployment compensation eligibility is that an employee becomes ineligible if he or she leaves a job “voluntarily without good cause.”

Although a substantial reduction in compensation may constitute “good cause” for leaving a job, there is no set rule on what constitutes a “substantial” reduction, and the cases are usually decided individually.

What does seem clear is that you must wait and see how much money you will earn on straight commission before you resign. If you simply resign before giving the commission arrangement a chance, you will probably disqualify yourself for unemployment benefits.

--JAMES J. MCDONALD Jr.

Attorney, Fisher & Phillips

Labor law instructor, UC Irvine

If you have a question about an on-the-job situation, please mail it to Shop Talk, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626; dictate it to (714) 966-7873; or e-mail it to shoptalk@latimes.com. Include your initials and hometown. The Shop Talk column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.