Personnel Shouldn’t Get Personal
Q I am a sales rep for a small company. They reimburse me for mileage but require that I automatically deduct 40 miles a day from my total, even though I work from my home.
They say this is because most people drive 20 miles each way to work every day. Are they just being cheap or is this unethical?
--K.R., Tustin
A If you are an employee of the company and your home is your base of operations and you drive on business, California law requires that the company reimburse you for all of your business mileage. The distance “most people” may drive to work is irrelevant.
You do not say whether you are an employee or an independent sales representative. If you are the latter, the company is not obligated to reimburse you for your mileage unless there is a specific written agreement to do so.
--James J. McDonald Jr.
Attorney, Fisher & Phillips
Labor law instructor, UC Irvine
Negative Words About Workers
Q A company’s personnel director is routinely contacted by businesses wishing to confirm job history for prospective employees. In addition to providing basic information, such as date, title and salary for the former employees, the director is adding personal comments about employees she didn’t like. Her negative comments are contrary to the good performance evaluations in the employees’ personnel files.
The director has kept several former employees whom she didn’t like from getting jobs. Is the personnel director’s vendetta against the law? What recourse do the former employees have?
--L.H., West Covina
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A Whether the employees have any recourse depends on whether the personnel director’s statements about them are true and do not constitute purely private information about them.
If the statements are true and reasonably related to their employability, the employees have no recourse. If the comments were not true, the employees may have a claim against the personnel director and the company for libel and/or slander, violation of their right of privacy, or for violating the California Labor Code, which allows triple damages. All of these laws allow employees to sue former employers who spread untruths that cause the employees to miss out on employment opportunities.
In addition, if the information involved purely private matters not related to employment, the employees may have a claim against the personnel director and the company for violation of their right of privacy, even if the information about the former employees is true.
These laws are exactly why most prudent employers prohibit releasing any information about prior employees other than dates of employment and position held. Someone in your company should probably alert the personnel director’s boss. The director could be exposing the company to considerable potential liability.
--Michael A. Hood
Employment law attorney
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
Employer Is Required to Give Them a Break
Q The company I work for has both hourly and salaried employees. We all work 8 1/2 hours per day, but since we receive a paid hour for lunch, we have been told that we are not entitled to any breaks.
Is this legal?
--B.J., Canyon Country
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A Nonexempt employees are entitled to a paid break of 10 minutes in the first and second half of an 8-hour shift. The breaks should fall in the middle of those periods. In addition, the employer is required to give the employee at least an unpaid break of half an hour in the middle of the workday for lunch.
In your situation, it does not matter whether you are paid hourly or earn a salary. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if they are salaried, they do not deserve the protection of these laws.
Being salaried is only one of many requirements to be exempt from these rules. You also must be a manager, a professional or an administrator, and perform these duties for more than half of your work time.
If you believe the breaks are important, you should certainly insist on them. However, it appears that it might be more profitable for you to remain silent. You have been given an hour lunch period when the legal requirement is only half an hour. In addition, your employer is paying you for the full hour lunch break, which also is not required.
You are making more money for the hour break than you would be making for the two 10-minute breaks in the morning and afternoon.
--Don D. Sessions
Employee rights attorney
Mission Viejo
Seeking Support for School From Employer Q I work for a company that has been doing more and more business with international firms.
I work more or less in research and development, but am getting a college degree in international business. My manager has refused to support my application for the company to pick up the tuition. He says it is not directly applicable to my work.
Don’t you think that as companies become more globalized and compete in larger world markets, the desire for a more extensive education should be greater? What should I do?
--A.T., Whittier
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A Perhaps you need to make a stronger case for how the degree you are pursuing relates to your current job and to the organization’s goals. If there is a company policy regarding reimbursement for college tuition, review it to see if it can help you in pleading your case.
A college degree in international business will likely have some value and relevance to your job, and will make you a more knowledgeable and “marketable” employee. Hopefully, you will be successful in persuading your manager to back your request for total or partial tuition reimbursement.
--Ron Riggio, director
Kravis Leadership Institute
Claremont McKenna College
