To Overcome Colleague’s Bias, Take the ‘High Road’
Q: I am employed as an account representative and hoping to become a junior partner in the next few years. My peers admire my work, and I believe I am doing a great job learning the business. My work speaks for itself, and I have been given some pretty important accounts.
However, there is one big obstacle to my promotion--a senior partner who is retired and working part time. I think he has never accepted me because I am female. As a senior member, he expected me to look to him for mentoring, but because our personalities and philosophies are so different, I didn’t believe that he could help me.
He resents the fact that I do not admire him the way his old cronies do, and has been putting down my work to other colleagues. This makes business meetings very uncomfortable.
Some of the older workers obviously listen to him, because they are surprised to find that I am a competent worker. I feel there is no one that I can go to for support. How can I maintain a professional reputation in a climate that is so biased against me?
--B.L., San Juan Capistrano
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A: It sounds as if some of your colleagues are recognizing your good work, and it is my guess that you will prove yourself to others as well, despite the older partner’s negative comments about you.
Take the “high road.” Try to get along with your difficult colleague. If you continue to do good work, it is my guess that you will be judged solely on your merits and the quality of your work.
--Ron Riggio, director
Kravis Leadership Institute
Claremont McKenna College
Who Pays for Street Parking?
Q: I use a company car and must have a parking permit to park it on the street. Is my employer obligated to pay for this?
--M.M., Santa Monica
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A: Not necessarily. Although California law requires that your employer reimburse you for all expenses reasonably incurred in the course of performing your job duties, the mere fact that you drive a company car does not mean you are always performing your job duties.
You do not say where you need a permit to park the car. If you park it at home, you are not performing your job duties, and your employer would not be obligated to pay for the permit. Similarly, if you park it at work, paying to park on the street is no different from paying to park in a structure. This is your responsibility, not your employer’s.
If, however, you are sent out to client or customer facilities and you need a permit to park there, you would probably be entitled to reimbursement.
--James J. McDonald Jr.
Attorney, Fisher & Phillips
Labor law instructor, UC Irvine
Reservist Duties and Paid Time Off
Q: I am completing my initial training to serve as a reservist in the armed forces. My military contract requires me to drill one weekend a month and for one two-week period each year. Am I required to use my paid vacation time when I have to take two weeks out of the summer for my extended drill period? Or can I simply take military leave and save my vacation time for myself?
My company’s human relations department says I must use vacation time for the two weeks.
--T.E., Palm Desert
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A: For U.S. military service, federal law allows you to use vacation pay during any leave. But your employer cannot require you to use your paid vacation. If your employer is making such a requirement, it is violating the law.
--Michael A. Hood
Employment law attorney
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
Feeling Bit by COBRA Charges
Q: After being on disability for four months, my employer changed my group medical insurance to the COBRA plan. As a result, my monthly premium increased to $510 from $190. Are they allowed to do this?
--J.R., Los Angeles
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A: As long as your employer treats all persons in similar situations the same, it is permissible to require the health insurance coverage that is provided to you in these circumstances be done pursuant to COBRA, or the federal Consolidated Omnibus Benefits Reconciliation Act. Since your employer is not required to subsidize your costs under the COBRA law requiring continuation of health insurance, the COBRA premiums typically are substantially more than the costs that companies require individuals to pay to obtain coverage while working.
--Kirk F. Maldonado
Employee benefits attorney
Riordan & McKinzie
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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.
